Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Tigress dies at zoo

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The carcass of a 23-year-old tigress, Sonia, which died at the city zoo on Sunday night, was cremated on Monday evening following a post mortem examination.

According to the zoo veterinarian Jayakumar, the post mortem examination was conducted by Dr. Sanjay from the office of the Chief Disease Investigation Officer and Dr. Jacob Alexander, a veterinary clinical pathologist. The cause of death was multiple organ failure due to old age, he said. In keeping with the directive of the Central Zoo Authority regarding the disposal of the carcasses of animals included in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, zoo director P.N. Unnikrishnan was present during the cremation.

On March 26, the zoo had violated this norm of the CZA when the carcass of a male tiger was cremated in the absence of the director. The CZA has stipulated that the carcasses of lions, tigers and leopards that die in captivity should be cremated in the presence of the zoo director so that the animals' body parts such as skin or nails do not end up being traded illegally.

Sonia was brought to the city zoo from Mysore in 1984. The tigress was then one year old. On May 30, 2004, Sonia became the third animal in the zoo - reportedly the first tiger in a South Indian zoo - to undergo a cataract operation. According to Mr. Unnikrishnan, the tiger lives to be 17 or 18 in the wild and 20, in captivity. The city zoo now has six tigers. Of these, three are males.

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