NSTR Tigress Battles for Life With a Gaping Hole in Her Throat

Hyderabad: T132F is a four-and-a-half year old tigress from the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve. And with a gaping hole in her throat that began as a gash resulting from a poacher’s snare around her neck, the tigress is in the battle of her life at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati where it now being cared for after she was captured earlier this month from deep inside the tiger reserve.

“Keeping it alive, trying to make sure the food goes down and does not drop out of the hole as it has been happening, and ensuring it has some energy for a third surgery to close a nearly four-inch hole in her throat is the first priority,” a zoo official said.

So far, two attempts to suture the hole have not succeeded, and all hopes now lie in the possibility of a specialist wildlife surgeon from South Africa coming to Tirupati to see what can be done to save the tigress. And that last ditch effort might happen in the next few days if the plans of the NSTR authorities to invite the South African veterinarian to Tirupati work out. “He is expected to visit Vantara in Gujarat where he is said to be on call sometime on August 2. We are trying to get him to Tirupati to take a look at T132F and see what can be done to save her,” the the NSTR field director BVA Krishna Murthy told Deccan Chronicle.

The tigress was first spotted with a deep cut wound around its neck during an inspection of camera trap images in the reserve this past June. “It was clear then that it had a poacher’s wire snare around its neck and a decision was taken to capture it, remove the snare and treat a large visible wound on its neck,” Murthy said.

In the days that followed, the tigress’ movements were very closely monitored and live baits were placed at two locations deep inside the reserve in the tigress’ territory. One of the two lures worked and after it killed a baited animal, the reserve’s veterinary staff tranquilized the tigress on June 6, and after initial checks, T132F was rushed to the Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Tirupati for treatment. There the university veterinarians were joined by the veterinary doctor from the Tirupati zoo and performed the first attempt to close the wound in the throat. But three days later, it was discovered that the sutures broke, and for the second time, the tigress was put under and a second attempt was made to close the wound. This time, to try and prevent it from turning its head too much, or stretching its neck, a neck collar was made from plaster, but this too did not work and it was found that the wound opened again and also grew in size.

According to the zoo officials, it has been a challenge to ensure that the tigress gets some food, and much needed antibiotics to prevent infection of the wound. Each time it drank water, the liquid flowed out of the hole in her throat. And every time it tried to swallow a chunk of meat, that too dropped out. After some trial and error, we have now figured out the size of the chunks of beef we are giving it so they will not slip out. Since it needs water and antibiotics, water with glucose, and antibiotics, are being injected into the beef chunks, a zoo official said.

"It is managing to eat some now, but only when it somehow puts its head and neck in a position that allows the meat pieces to slip down its gullet and not fall out,” according to the Sri Venkateswara Zoo curator C. Selvam, under whose overall care the tigress is now in the zoo’s hospital.

“We hope we can save the tigress. And all of us are doing the best to take care of her. And we hope we can successfully close the wound, help it heal, and once it recovers, release it back into the wild,” Dr Satyaprakash Arun, the zoo veterinary officer said.