Ashis Sinha I Bokaro: A white female big cat— Ganga died at Jawaharlal Nehru Biological Park (JNB) in Bokaro Steel City on Friday, officials informed. The death of Ganga has shocked thousands of animal lovers.
According to the zoo authorities, Ganga, the female white tiger brought to JNB Park Bokaro (maintained by Bokaro Steel Plant) from Maitri Bagh Zoo of Bhilai on 20 January 2012, was found dead in her cage this morning.
Meanwhile, the postmortem report reveals that “Ganga was aged tigress and died after cardiac arrest.”
Notably, around nine tigers have died at JNB Bokaro in the past decade. Ganga’s partner ‘Satpuda’ died in August 2012 at JNB Bokaro after being struck by paralysis. Another white tiger ‘Ram’ died in May 2010 of ‘Fibrosarcoma’ (a malignant cancer tumor) at JNB. Royal Bengal Tiger Vishnu also died at JNB Park, Bokaro on 30 April 2010. The disease was the cause of most of these deaths.
In particular, white tigers are known to be genetically weak due to inbreeding in captivity and other factors. As a result, they are more likely to develop diseases and other health problems, said an expert.
