Bhubaneswar, Nov. 18: The joy of Nandankanan authorities over the birth of five tiger cubs at the zoo was shortlived as the newborns died early this morning. The caretaker, who opened the cage around 7.30am to have a look at the cubs delivered by tigress Priyanka on Tuesday, was shocked to see their dead bodies.

“The death was caused by the rejection of the cubs by their mother. She did not feed them properly,” said Nandankanan deputy director Shiba Narayan Mohapatra. The tragedy occurred despite zoo officials having taken special care to prevent the rejection of the young ones by their mother. They had been kept away from public view as human interference often leads to rejection of the cubs by the mother.

The state government has ordered an inquiry into the deaths. “A proper investigation will done to find out the exact cause of death,” said principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), J.D. Sharma.

This is the second incident of tiger death at Nandankanan in the last 24 hours. Tanuja, an 18-year-old tigress, had succumbed on Thursday after sustaining injuries in a clash with a male tiger.

The five cubs were born at the zoo on November 15 to Priyanka, a 12-year-old tigress and Roshan, an 8-year-old tiger. The parents were also born in the zoo.

Sources said this was not the first death of an animal in the zoo due to rejection by the mother. Two years ago, a leopard killed her two cubs. In another case, a young chimpanzee was rejected by his mother. However, the zoo authorities managed to save it.

Zoo officials said that in the case of a tigress giving birth for the first time, survival of the cubs is almost always doubtful. “Chances of death are maximum in the case of a first time delivery as mothers tend to reject the offsprings. There are no reasons for rejection in the case of these animals,” said assistant director of the zoo Kamal Lochan Purohit.

The post-mortem of the cubs was carried out at the zoo veterinary office. Preliminary reports said the deaths were caused by poor maternal care and lack of breastfeeding. “Internal organs of two cubs were damaged due to lateral pressure, which indicates that the mother was unable to take proper care of the animals. The other three did not have sufficient milk in their stomach,” said Sarat Sahu, veterinary assistant surgeon of the zoo.

Earlier, the zoo authorities had taken all measures to ensure that no human interference took place. With deaths taking place despite this, question marks have been raised with regard to captive breeding of big cats in the zoo. “Wildlife conservation is important in zoo conditions but proper scientific care ought to be taken,” said Prasad Dash, an ecologist.