File picture of a Royal Bengal tiger in Nandankanan

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 6: A 19-year-old tiger died at the Nandankanan zoo here today.

Zoo officials said that Nishan, a Royal Bengal tiger who was born in the zoo, died of paralysis. The incident comes a week after the birth of four tiger cubs, including a melanistic litter, at the Nandankanan zoo.

The officials said that Nishan was under treatment for the past two years.

“Doctors at the zoo were keeping a tab on its health condition in a special enclosure. However, it finally succumbed to illness. A team of doctors conducted the post-mortem,” said director of the zoo Sudarshan Panda.

Food intake of the tiger has reduced following illness.

“It was being treated with medicines for the past two years,” said an official. Born in February 1996, Nishan has fathered seven cubs, including five white tigers.

With Nishan’s death, the tiger population of the zoo has come down to 22, excluding the four cubs born on July 28. The tigers in the zoo include 18 females. Eight of the Nandankanan tigers are white.

Wildlife activists, however, demanded better health care facilities for the zoo inmates.

“The veterinary doctors of the zoo lack sufficient knowledge about wildlife so the government should send them to facilities in other countries to gather knowledge regarding treatment of wild animals, especially tigers and lions,” said member-secretary of people for animals Sanjib Kumar Das.

However, zoo authorities said that the health care facility at the zoo was among the best available in the country.

“The morality rate at our zoo is less compared to other zoos of the country,” a zoo official said.

Though Nishan’s death is bad news for the zoo, the officials are upbeat as the health condition of the four cubs born here was stable and the mother is taking care of them.

“A team of doctors is keeping a close tab on the health condition of the mother and its cubs,” said a senior official of the zoo. The cubs were born to Sneha, a four-and-half-year-old white tigress and Manish, an eight-year-old Royal Bengal tiger, at an off-exhibit enclosure in the zoo.