New born tiger cubs die at Nandankanan

Bhubaneswar: Barely tweleve hours after their birth, all the five tiger cubs born to tigress Priyanka on Thursday died under mysterious circumstances today at the Nanadankanan Zoological Park raising many an eyebrow. The forest department officials said that the cause of the death of the cubs would be investigated.

The most untimely death of all the five cubs including one white cub has sent shockwaves among thousands of visitors to the famous zoological park as well as wildlife activists in the state. Wildlife experts are of the opinion that many a time mother tigresses prey on their kids or reject them if the cubs come in human contact. Secondly, cubs could also die due to insufficient feeding by their mothers due to multiple births. Veterinary experts would now try to find out the reasons leading to the deaths of the five cubs. The five cubs were guests of Nandankana for barely twelve hours which might be a record of shortest duration.

The post-mortem of all the five cubs was conducted today and all the cubs were found to be in empty belly. The cubs were born to eleven-year-old Priyanka after her mating with tiger Roshan. Priyanka attained motherhood for the first time. With the death of the five cubs, Nandankanan now has a total of 23 tigers including 10 white tigers. The famous natural zoological park in the country of late remains in news not due to birth of animals but due to deaths of animals.