Patna, July 3: The death of Patna zoo’s only white tigress, Tejaswani, last Friday has prompted the authorities to expedite the process of acquiring new big cats under the animal exchange programme.

“We are likely to receive a pair of white tigers along with a pair of Asiatic lions and a tiger from Hyderabad zoo within a month. The three-year-old tigers would be brought in exchange of two rhinoceroses. All formalities are complete and the animals just need to be transported so as to compensate Tejaswani’s loss. Earlier, we had expected a highly successful breeding trend for white tigers, but Tejaswani’s loss is disheartening for us,” zoo director Abhay Kumar told The Telegraph.

Tejaswani was brought to Patna zoo from Delhi zoo in 2005. Patna zoo is now left with just one tigress — 16-year-old Sita.

Tejaswani showed initial symptoms of illness on June 28 evening when she turned drowsy.

“Initially, we thought that Tejaswani might have been bitten by some poisonous animal, which could have caused the drowsiness in her. After a thorough check-up by doctors last Tuesday evening, she showed signs of improvement over the next two days. However, she was seen breathing briskly around 10.30am on Friday. Doctors attended to her again. But unfortunately she could not survive beyond 3.30pm,” added the zoo director.

“The post-mortem report indicated that the 16-year-old big cat died owing to the development of a node in the track between its small and large intestine. It developed into a severe infection 24 hours before the tigress passed away,” the zoo director said.

Earlier, another tiger, Ram, 16, died on May 10 this year owing to respiratory failure caused by old age. The average age of a tiger or tigress is 16 years.