NILGIRIS: Five days after an eight-year-old female Nilgiri tahr died (on December 6) of multiple organ failure hours after it was sedated by forest department officials to fix a radio collar, the postmortem report has revealed that the animal did not die of drug overdose as was suspected earlier, but a liver ailment.
Furthermore, the report revealed that the animal was pregnant. Sources in the forest department said they were unaware the animal was pregnant until the postmortem examination.
“The tahr’s death was not due to sedative overdose. It could be due to prolonged illness as we found an abscess in its liver that could have formed between six months to a year ago. Moreover, the stomach contents indicated the animal had not consumed grass in months, which is why we suspect the animal could not tolerate the sedative dose. We provided oxygen and other methods of respiratory stimulation, but the tahr died,” an official said.
“We have tranquilised five Nilgiri tahrs so far. However, this animal’s health deteriorated. This was due to its poor health. Just two hours before its death, we tranquilised a male tahr and fixed a radio collar. The animal is healthy. Another female Tahr that was tranquilised to remove a lump in the front right leg is also healthy,” the official added.
Furthermore, officials clarified that finding out if a wild animal is pregnant by observation is difficult, and only a blood test can confirm it. But it is difficult to lift a blood sample from a wild animal, they said.
“Unlike domesticated animals, identifying if a wild animal - be it a Nilgiri Tahr or an elephant - is pregnant is difficult. Also, the foetus of animals that get pregnant for the first time show up only in their last stage of pregnancy. We have sent samples of the foetus to the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), Chennai, to identify its sex, if possible, and also its age,” the officials said.