Twin tiger cubs die at Nava Raipur jungle safari

Raipur: Two tiger cubs died at the jungle safari in Atal Nagar, Nava Raipur. One cub died during birth on April 6, and the other died on April 13. The cubs were born to tigress ‘Bijli', approximately 6 years old, on April 6 in the Nandanvan jungle safari zone.

The surviving cub was under close observation due to its weak condition at birth. CCTV footage from April 13 showed the tigress nursed the cub only once that day. Dr Jai Kishore Jharia, the safari's veterinary officer, ordered close monitoring of both the cub and its mother, recognising the seriousness of the situation. A further review of CCTV footage on April 14 confirmed that the cub nursed only once on April 13.

The cub was separated from its mother at approximately 3:20 PM on April 13 and taken to the neonatal care centre for examination. At that time, the cub's eyes were yet to open, and its body temperature was recorded at 92°F (33.3°C), significantly below the normal range. Ganveer Dhammashir, director of the Jungle Safari, said that tiger cubs' eyes usually open between the 10th and 12th day.

Despite immediate medical treatment, the 8-day-old cub died at 3.28pm on April 13, he said. Dhammashil stated that this was the tigress's second or third pregnancy. He added that the tigress previously gave birth to healthy cubs.

"While one cub was stillborn, the other, which was born weak, died on April 13. It appears the cubs were born with deformity and so many factors are responsible for this. It also appears that after the death of the first cub, the mother stopped nurturing the other cub properly, which is apparent from the review of the CCTV footage," he said.

"For two-three days after the birth, we did not intervene as per norms. It may be possible that the tigress did not feed her milk to the weak cub, leading to the death of one cub at the time of the birth. The gender of these cubs could not be identified," Dhammashil said.