Panaji: Sandhya, the lone tigress in Bondla zoo, died on Wednesday. She was aged 14 years and four months.
Zoo manager Paresh Porob said she was unwell and they had kept her on diet of eggs and milk for the last 17 days. “Normally a tigress lives up to 16 years, and their life gets better with breeding. However, Sandhya did not breed, and as a result, she was prone to hormonal changes in the body. That could have been one of the reasons for her death.”
She was brought from Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Vishakhapatnam, in 2009, through a friendly exchange for a bison in July 2009. The official said the department has sent a proposal to the Central Zoo Authority requesting for a tiger couple.