Thiruvananthapuram: Malar, the white tiger whose tail was chewed off by another tiger, is recuperating after surgery at the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo. Her old friend, Shravan, who was also brought from the National Zoological Gardens, New Delhi, was the culprit when the two of them were lodged in adjoining enclosures. The biggest concern is that Shravan is exhibiting cannibalistic traits.
Though Shravan is not yet two years old, he has grown into a big white tiger. Malar is eight years old and has been on heat for a while. But the Zoo officials were not yet ready to allow both Shravan and Malar in the same enclosure as the former has been aggressive.
Earlier when these two white tigers were put in adjoining enclosures, Shravan attacked Malar through the thin gap in her enclosure and chewed her ears. But this time, Shravan, who has been hand reared and therefore more possessive, turned out to show traits of cannibalism much to the horror of Zoo officials.
“Shravan ate three-fourths of Malar’s tail through the small gap between the enclosures. Fortunately the night duty watchman, Manoharan, happened to hear the commotion and the tiger keeper, Raman, were alerted. Immediately Malar underwent an emergency surgery on her tail and her condition has since improved”, said Dr. Jacob Alexander, senior veterinary surgeon to DC.
Since Wednesday, Malar has started eating and her overall health has improved. Though Malar had a narrow escape from the wrath of Shravan, it has not deterred the Zoo authorities from making them mate in future. Dr. Jacob Alexander said that once Malar overcame the trauma of being attacked, “We will try our luck”.
“We will take a three- pronged precaution before they are allowed to be in the same enclosure. If things go wrong, we will spray high pressure water on Shravan or we will be ready with a dart gun and our last weapon is fire-crackers”, added Dr. Jacob Alexander.
This is not the first time Zoo officials here have experienced such deadly attacks. Last year, a lion tailed macaque named Lakshmi was mauled by her male friend, Kumar, resulting in her ribs and lungs protruding out. Fortunately she is now hale and hearty. Similarly, a female jaguar, Sangeetha’s front paw was attacked by her male companion Salman.
But similar white tiger attacks became fatal for the female white tiger in National Zoological Gardens, New Delhi and Arignar Anna Zoological Park aka Vandalur Zoo in Tamil Nadu.
