Viscera of tiger cub to be sent to Hyderabad lab

TNN | Nov 16, 2011, 09.49PM IST KANPUR: After the death of a five and a half month old tiger cub on Sunday, the Kanpur zoo authorities are in a state of shock. The top zoo officials had been rejoicing ever since the three tiger cubs were born. The death of two tiger cubs, one died on October 2, has not only come as a huge loss to the country, especially at a time when the count of tigers is declining in the country, but also to the animal lovers who had been frequenting zoo to have a glimpse of the young ones of tigress Trusha and tiger Abhay. The zoo has also received a jolt for the fact that the sudden death of the tiger cub on Sunday has hampered its efforts of animal conservation. Also the situation is shocking for the zoo authorities because the first three months, which are said to be critical for the young ones of the tiger, had passed safely and the cubs were now five and a half months old. This has left the authorities perplexed on the reason for the cub's death.It is because of all these reasons that the zoo authorities have decided to send the viscera of the dead tiger cub to Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LACONES) in Hyderabad apart from sending it to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly for further tests. Though the postmortem of the tiger cub, who died on Sunday, has been done and cardio-respiratory failure has been stated to be the cause, the zoo authorities do not want to leave any stone upturned about the cause of the death. Talking to TOI, director, Kanpur Zoo, K Praveen Rao said the entire effort was being made to ascertain the cause of death of the tiger cub. He admitted that it would be for the very first time that the viscera of any animal would be sent to LACONES in Hyderabad. Meanwhile, it is important to mention here that On October 2, a male tiger cub had died. After this recent death, the Kanpur zoo is left with only one female tiger cub. It is also important to mention that with the demise of its cub, tigress Trusha is behaving abnormally. Dr UC Srivastava, zoo veterinarian, informed that animals like tigers had short term memory and the tigress would be okay in the next few days. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Viscera-of-tiger-cub-to-be-sent-to-Hyderabad-lab/articleshow/10758641.cms