Zoo workers carrying Kartik for cremation on Tuesday. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Feb. 17: The Assam state zoo authorities have stepped up their efforts to procure two pairs of big cats from Mysore following the death of one of the two remaining Royal Bengal Tigers today.

Eleven-year-old Kartik died of carcinoma in the wee hours.

Divisional state officer of the state zoo Narayan Mahanta said Kartik was born in the zoo on March 27, 1993.

The tiger, which was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, had refused food for the past two days. The cancer was detected in the buccal cavity after specimens were sent for histopathological examination. Chemotherapy was also administered to the tiger, he said.

“We tried our best to save him,” Mahanta said, adding that veterinary officials had kept a constant watch on him. The tiger was cremated in the zoo.

Kartik’s parents — Kashyap and Radha — were brought from Nandan Kanan in Orissa on March 24, 1989. Kashyap passed away in June 2003 and Radha in February 1998. The zoo has only one tiger, Champak, left.

Mahanta said a surgical operation was performed on Kartik in May last year under the supervision of scientists from the College of Veterinary Sciences. Its condition stabilised later and he started taking normal feeds.

“Kartik was a very important member of our family and loved by all,” he added.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved the exchange of two pairs of tigers from Mysore, which will arrive here next month.

“We had requested Mysore zoo to send us four tigers, which they readily agreed to,” Mahanta said. Assam will give the Mysore zoo a cassowary, a flightless exotic bird, in exchange.

A total of 43 animals had died in the Assam state zoo in 2002-03, which included 33 mammals, eight birds and two reptiles.

A health advisory committee of the state zoo, constituted by the state government, is kept informed of the health of all the animals.

“We take care of the animals and carry out vaccination schedules,” he added.

The zoo has 551 inmates and is spread over an area of 175 hectares.