BHOPAL: Two of the three orphaned Royal Bengal Tiger cubs, who were reared by ‘toy-mom,’ have lost the battle against twin viral attacks at the Bandhavgarh National Park/Tiger Reserve in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh within 14 hours.
While one of the cubs succumbed to the Lepto and Parvo viral onslaught on Saturday night, the other one died at around 12.30 pm on Sunday. The last remaining cub among the orphaned trio is also said to be critical, Bandhavgarh National Park director Mridul Pathak told the New Indian Express.
The trio was diagnosed with the twin viruses on April 12. They were put under the intensive care of a team of veterinary doctors at an air-conditioned room in the Bandhavgarh Park/Tiger Reserve, which has highest density of tiger population in the country.
“The twin viruses which are known to infect the canine and cat population, lead to excessive internal bleeding, resulting in hemorrhagic diarrhea and also ultimately leads to multi-organ malfunction and failure, leading to death in 48 hours. But the two cubs aged more than 4 months battled the twin viruses for over 10 days before breathing last on Saturday night,” added Pathak.
The veterinary specialists are taking all efforts to save the last of the three cubs now. “Had the cubs survived past April 25, they would have successfully conquered the twin viral attack. But compromised immunity due to deprivation of mother’s milk and resultant dearth of antibodies saw the two cubs lose the battle against viral attack,” maintained Pathak.
The autopsy of the two tiger cubs have been completed and their blood samples are being conserved for further analysis to draw a detailed plan for saving tigers in future against the attack of two killer viruses, said Pathak.
The development which is bound to render rude shock to tiger lovers comes just a day after a three-year-old injured male tiger died during course of treatment at Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal. The tiger which was found near a water body close to a hillock in Betul district (180 km from State capital) on April 7 was shot with vintage musket guns by a poaching gang. The big cat was shifted to the rescue and treatment center in Bhopal, but vets couldn’t save his life despite efforts.
Five poachers have already been arrested in connection with the incident from Betul (MP) and adjoining Maharashtra since then and two single-shot vintage muzzle loading guns have been seized from them.
Orphaned tiger cubs were reared by toy-mom
A tigress T-1 had delivered the three cubs on December 10, 2016 in the Sanjay Dubri National Park/Tiger Reserve in MP's Sidhi district.
On January 16, a tragedy struck the three cubs as their mother was electrocuted by a farm fence put by villagers in the Sanjay Dubri National Park's buffer zone, leading to her death.
A week later the three orphan cubs were shifted to the Bandhavgarh National Park/Tiger Reserve.
To improve the survival prospects of the three cubs, the National Park/Tiger Reserve management had placed a cuddly 'dummy toy tigress' as their substitute mother. The specially-designed toy tigress which the cubs considered their real mother, was kept in an enclosure in the forest and fitted with synthetic nipples and a milk bottle to feed the baby tigers.
"Since they lost mother at an early stage, the trio cubs was deprived of mother's feed, leading to compromised immunity and dearth of antibodies to fight out any viral attack," said Pathak.
The park situated in Umaria district of MP (400-plus km) houses 60-plus adult and semi-adult tigers, maximum among nine national parks and six tiger reserves in the State.
40 tiger deaths in MP over 16 months
Generally deaths of tigers aged below two years are not included in total tiger fatalities officially. However, if they are also included, then a total of 39 tigers have died in MP since January 2016.
While, 30 tigers died in 2016, 10 have died in the first four months of 2017.
In April itself five tigers, including the two orphaned tiger cubs have died in the State. Three of these died during last four days.