The 10-year-old male was born in SGNP in 2010 to Basanti and Palash.
A 10-year-old Royal Bengal tiger, Anand, died at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivali on Thursday from a rare form of cancer.
The 10-year-old male was born in SGNP in 2010 to Basanti and Palash. Anand’s brother Yash had also died of the same disease last May at the age of 12.
Besides cancer, Anand was also suffering from a chronic renal disease. It was under treatment of senior veterinarians of Mumbai Veterinary College for almost a year.
SGNP authorities had described Anand’s condition as “critical” and that it had lost a considerable amount of weight since March.
“Anand died at 5 am on Thursday and its postmortem examination was conducted by a team of veterinarians from Mumbai Veterinary College. It had not consumed solid food for the past 10 days. It succumbed today due to cancer-related complications like progressive cachexia (weight loss and muscle loss) and multi-organ failure. As per protocol, the remains were consigned to flames after the postmortem examination,” said an official at SGNP.
Last April, an 18-year-old white tiger and the last one inhabiting the SGNP had died due to age-related ailments.
At present, SGNP is home to five Royal Bengal tigers, including four females. Basanti had mothered four cubs – Yash, Anand, Laxmi and Puja – of whom only Laxmi (10) is alive.
Sultan, who is four-and-a-half-years-old and the lone male Royal Bengal tiger, was brought to SGNP from Gorewada rescue centre in Nagpur last December.
Last August, twin Royal Bengal tigresses were brought to SGNP from Pench Tiger Reserve in Nagpur.