Tiger tiger burning not so bright.....

According to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Karnataka’s five tiger reserves are home to 524 tigers – the second highest in the country behind Madhya Pradesh – with Bandipur and Nagarhole Wildlife sanctuaries accounting for a majority of them

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Housing and taking care of big cats in captivity is a gargantuan task and Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) experiences all the difficulties associated with maintaining its 15 tigers. One such problem came to the fore seven-months ago when a tiger cub was abandoned by his mother.

The cub, which was born on March 22, was found to have developed a polycystic kidney and cataract. However, veterinarians at the facility said that the young animal was doing better after receiving treatment.

One of them said that they first noticed something was wrong when the cub was being ignored by its mother the day after it was born inside the enclosure. They then learned that the cub had slipped into a coma.

“He was born inside the enclosure in the evening. The next day in the morning, we noticed that the baby was off to one side and it wasn’t being cared for and had in fact gone into a coma. Immediately, we shifted him to the hospital. We put him on a drip (saline) and fed him goat milk.

He recovered,” he said. “After two or three months, he started to develop water retention in his abdomen. Every three days, we started removing some 200 to 300 ml of water (through syringes). However, there was no infection. Upon scanning, we realized, he had a polycystic kidney.

Slowly, we began supportive treatment for it,” he added. The veterinarian said that they consulted experts from Malaysia when they learned that the cub had developed cataract in his eyes. “He had also developed cataract. We consulted some experts from Malaysia over this. They said there was no guarantee that the treatment would work (for both cataract and polycystic kidney).

They said we don’t know how the cyst would develop. If may grow day by day or remain the same size. We also consulted some ophthalmologists and had him treated and he recovered,” he said, adding that the cub was so young at the time (three to four months), they couldn’t operate on him and had to limit themselves to eye drops.

He insisted that the cub was in much better shape now. “Now there is no water retention in the abdomen. Cataract has also receded by some 95 per cent. Both eyes are mostly clear. However, the life span of the cub is not clear. Some experts say he’ll live for three years or so, but we don’t know.

We saved it for seven months. Presently, he is healthy, all thanks to team work,” he said. He added that they had to be extra careful when caring for the cub. For instance, they had to make sure that while feeding the cub goat milk; they had to ensure that the fluid did not enter his lungs because that could prove fatal.

Shrinking gene pool at facility

Executive Director of BBP Sunil Panwar insisted that the cub had not suffered congenital defects because of his parents (Anushka and Mithun) since the two weren’t related, adding that they were extra careful in dealing with mating tigers. BBP veterinarians echoed the same sentiments.

However, both parties have in the past conceded that they needed to get fresh bloodlines to keep the tigers at the park genetically healthy. For instance, both parents of the cub were born inside the park. Previously, there have been cases where tigresses were simply not interested in mating with the tigers at the park.

“For that, we should mix the bloodlines with wild tigers or get some animals through exchange with other facilities. In the latter case, we should take more precautions. Usually, no one gives up healthy animals,” a BBP veterinarian said.

“We only have two breeding females at the park. We aren’t being able to produce more cubs,” he said, adding that usually tigers reach sexual maturity at four years of age. Three cubs were born at the park in the past year and a half, he said.

“We aren’t getting many rescued animals. A lot of them end up in Mysuru (zoo). It’s mostly injured animals. Mysuru is closer to many of these forest areas like Madikeri,” he said. “A lot of them are male tigers injured in territorial fighting with other males,” he added.

Tick menace

Earlier, two tigers died at the facility due to a blood infection they contacted through ticks in the safari area, which is contiguous with the forests. An ailing three-year-old tiger Kiran died due to a blood infection on August 27.

The big cat was born on January 7, 2019 to Amar and Vismay