Lone Siberian tiger dies in Nainital Zoo

The lone Siberian tiger of the country, which had been living at the high-altitude Nainital Zoo for the past one-and-a-half decades, has died at the age of about 18 years.

Keeping in view the rare presence of the Siberian tiger in the country, the Nainital Zoo authorities have decided to prepare taxidermy of this endangered species.

The Siberian tiger, which was known as Kunal, breathed its last on Saturday in the zoo premises following some old-age ailments. The zoo authorities here are of the opinion that the Siberian tiger has died a natural death.

The Siberian tiger had attained an age of about 18 years. So it seems it died a natural death, said Anil Kumar Srivastav, deputy director, the Naintial zoo while talking to The Pioneer. Generally a tiger of Siberian variety lives up to 12 years. Kunal’s post-mortem was conducted here at the zoo premises in the presence of the authorities concerned on Sunday.

However, some important parts of the Siberian tiger, Kunal, including its bones and skin, were preserved for taxidermy purpose, Srivastav said. According to Nainital Zoo authorities, two Siberian tigers i.e. Kunal and Mahesh, were brought to the zoo in Nainital from Darjeeling in 1997. At the time, Kunal was about two-and-a-half-year old, while Mahesh was about six months older than Kunal.

However, owing to some health disorder, Mahesh died in 2001. But surprisingly, Kunal lived on. It seems good care provided by the zoo authorities also played a significant role in Kunal’s long life.

Wildlife experts here said that when two Siberian tigers were brought to the Nainital Zoo in 1997, a couple of tigers of the same variety was also living at the Darjeeling zoo. Now, both the tigers of the Darjeeling Zoo have also died, authorities said. Now, there is no Siberian tiger anywhere in the country, Srivastav said.

However, when asked whether the Nainital Zoo administration will try to find a new Siberian tiger for the zoo, Srivastav said that a decision in this regard would be taken at the higher level. But hopefully steps would be taken to explore ways to find out a Siberian tiger for the zoo in near future.