BHUBANESWAR: A 16-year-old leopard ‘Suraj’ died in its enclosure on Tuesday night while undergoing treatment for blood protozoan infection, a tick-borne disease. The disease had claimed life of a tiger in the Zoo last year.
Deputy Director of the Zoo Jayanta Das said the leopard was undergoing treatment for the last one month and had been kept in a separate enclosure. Though health of the leopard had improved and diarrhea had subsided, it suddenly became sick on Tuesday afternoon with respiratory distress which is suspected to have occurred due to internal bleeding, said Das.
“The exact cause of death will be ascertained after postmortem. The average life span of a leopard is 12 to 17 years,” he said. According to zoo authorities, the forest officials had rescued Suraj from Bhanjanagar in July 2004 when it was around four months old. After its death, the number of leopard in Nandankanan has come down to five, including three female.
Meanwhile, the death of the big cat raises concern, as the Zoo authorities are yet to overcome the tick bite menace despite steeping up measures to curb it.
The Nandankanan authorities had intensified disinfection measures in the Zoo in October last year after a white tiger ‘Subhranshu’ died in the second week of the month due to haemorrhagic enteritis and Ascites caused by a life-threatening tick-borne protozoan parasite.
Two other tigers and a Giraffe had also died of the tick-borne disease at the Zoo in the last few years.
Das said though they are taking adequate measures like timely disinfection of enclosures to eliminate ticks, the task is difficult as there are many factors that are favourable for ticks to multiply. He, however, said the disinfection measures will be intensified further in Zoo enclosures in the coming days.