A tigress died in the Alipore zoo in the early hours of Wednesday, the third such death in three months.

The tigress, which would have turned three in a couple of months, was brought from Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in 2024 for breeding purposes.

“The tigress died around 1.50am on Wednesday. She was undergoing treatment for infections,” said P. Kamalakanth, member-secretary of the West Bengal Zoo Authority.

Sources in the state forest department said the big cat was suffering from a “hemoprotozoan parasite infection”. It involves single-celled parasites living in the blood of animals and sometimes humans, transmitted by ticks or other vectors, a vet said.

“Let us not jump to any conclusion. A post-mortem has been done. We have sent the samples to (the veterinary college and hospital in) Belgachhia,” Kamalakanth told Metro.

Two tigresses died within a day of each other in September. Both had died of natural causes, a forest official had said.