A full-term pregnant tigress, which roamed the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) of Rajasthan, died just days before giving birth to three cubs, officials said.
Designated as MT-4 but popularly called Lightning, the nine-year-old was the only female big cat of the reserve.
Officials on Thursday told news agency PTI that the tigress was leading a healthy life, and was seen chasing a herd of animals on April 27 in the reserve.
However, two days later forest officials spotted her suffering possibly from colic pain.
A team of veterinarians from Ranthambore, where she was relocated from, and another team from Kota monitored MT-4 throughout April 30.
They diagnosed her with severe constipation, the officials said.
Lightning was tranquilised on May 1 and administered enema, the news agaency said.
Fecaliths (stone-like hard stool) were evacuated from MT-4 twice, the officials said.
On April 3, the monitoring teams found something hanging out of the tigress’ anus, which was later diagnosed as prolapse of the rectum, generally found among cattle, the report said.
Field Director of MHTR Sharda Pratap Singh told the media that as per joint consultation with experts of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and doctors from Jaipur, Ranthambore and Kota, a team of veterinarians tranquillised MT-4 at 8.54 am on Thursday, for inserting the rectum and anus into its place.
The tigress regained consciousness at 10.38 am, but its respiration stopped suddenly around 1.15 pm on Thursday and it died, he added.
“This is the first case of prolapse of rectum with a tiger in the country and top wildlife experts were involved in deciding the course of treatment,” Singh told PTI.
Post-mortem revealed that the tigress was full-term pregnant with three cubs, a member of the team of veterinarians that conducted the autopsy on Thursday evening, said, adding the tigress was to deliver the cubs in the next few days.
Mukundra Tiger Reserve, popularly known as Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, is spread across 4 districts – Bundi, Kota, Jhalawar & Chittorgarh. It is located just 50 kilometers from Kota, and is the 3rd tiger reserve in Rajasthan, after Ranthambore & Sariska Tiger Reserves. This tiger reserve was once a hunting preserve belonging to the Maharaja of Kota.
