Two tigresses of Alipore Zoo died within a day of each other, swivelling the spotlight on the century-old facility that is already mired in a controversy over serious administrative lapses.
Payal, who would have turned 17 next month, died on Tuesday.
Rupa, a 20-year-old albino, passed away on Wednesday.
Forest officials said the usual life span of tigers was 14-15 years in the wild and around 20 in captivity.
A senior official of the state forest department said a three-member panel had been set up to conduct a post-mortem on the two big cats.
“Prima facie, both tigresses seem to have died of age-related ailments. But as the deaths happened within 24 hours, we have set up a three-member panel of vets for the post-mortem, which will be videographed. The viscera samples will also be sent for testing to ascertain the actual cause of the deaths,” said Sandeep Sundriyal, the chief wildlife warden of Bengal.
Sources said a post-mortem was mandatory after the death of any animal in the zoo, but it was usually conducted by one doctor. Both tigresses will be cremated at the Alipore Zoo hospital following the post-mortem.
Multiple calls and messages to the zoo director went unanswered. Sources in the park said the tigresses were ailing for some time.
Payal had almost stopped eating for over a month, and Rupa had an infected hind leg, said a zoo worker.
Rupa was born at the zoo on March 4, 2005. Her parents were Anirban, an albino tiger, and Krishna. Rupa had a brother named Vishal, who died in 2022. Rupa and Vishal were the last tiger cubs to have been born at the park, said an official.
Payal, who was born in October 2008, came to Alipore from Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoo on February 20, 2016.
“Rupa was very fond of the keepers who attended to her. She was snuggly, always ready for a cuddle. She was extremely fond of water,” said a former employee of the zoo.
Payal made a kill on the first day she arrived at AliporeZoo.
“A cat had sneaked into her cage. Payal, a full-grown adult then, struck the unannounced visitor with a paw. It killed the cat instantly,” he added.
The latest deaths have left Alipore Zoo with seventigers.
A public interest litigation has alleged serious administrative lapses at the 150-year-old facility. According to the petition, there is a discrepancy of over 300 animals between the zoo’s inventory at the end of 2023-24 and the beginning of 2024-25, based on the Central Zoo Authority’s “Annual Inventory of Animals in Zoos” report.
The zoo does not have a single big cat, according to the CZA report. The authorities have attributed the mismatch to “typographical errors”.
A division bench of Calcutta High Court heard the PIL on September 1. The court stayed a controversial bid by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) to sell prime Alipore Zoo land following allegations that the proposed sale violated central wildlife regulations and that the zoo had a significant mismatch in its animal inventory.
The alleged discrepancy prompted a CZA team to conduct a probe and submit a report to the court.
Animal lovers have also raised concerns about enclosures and animal health monitoring at the zoo.
A post-mortem on a giraffe, which was shifted from Alipore Zoo to Ranchi Zoo and died there, had revealed that the animal was pregnant, lending credence to some of the allegations against the Calcutta facility.