Tiger tragedy — the buck stops nowhere

Speaking for the team, Member Secretary of the Veterinary Council of India Ram Kumar said that the 11 tigers died of trypanosomiasis disease, while the Royal Bengal tiger Devashis died on June 23 due to multiple diseases.

The team’s inquiry has claimed that the line of treatment adopted by zoo authorities was correct and the administration of Berenil for trypanosoma was the right decision. The team also claimed that nothing was wrong with the environment or the living conditions of the tigers.

Answering queries over the administration of Berenil, Ram Kumar said that as soon as Sagar was detected as having the disease, zoo authorities conducted pathology tests and confirmed infection in 16 other tigers. Without further delay, he said, the authorities administered Berenil which was the right drug. He said that the apprehension that administration of the drug on an empty stomach would have caused the deaths was unfounded since tigers can resist the drug on an empty stomach for two consecutive days.

However, in the only indication that the staff may have erred, Ram Kumar said: “Had the zoo authorities observed the symptoms of the ailing tigers a little earlier, several of the tigers could have been saved with the administration of the drug at the right time.”

Kumar said that the incubation period for trypanosoma varies from 30 to 40 days from the day of infection. “There is every possibility that while Berenil was administered, the incubation period of the tigers would have been over,” he said. But refusing to point an accusing finger at the the zoo authorities, he said that it wasn’t easy to know about the incubation period especially in case of tigers.

Member Secretary of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), P R Sinha, who remained tight-lipped over the investigation results for most part of the news conference, said that the zoo’s condition had to be improved. “After the super cyclone of October, the deaths of tigers has become a super tragedy for the Nandankanan Zoo. Though environmental conditions of the zoo need to be improved, it can be stated as good, taking into account the damage it sustained owing to the super cyclone,” he said.

Besides submitting the preliminary inquiry report on July 15, the CZA will also collect reports from various institutes which are presently testing various angles of the tragedy, along with feedback from experts studying the case. This will be submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests later, Sinha said.

Wildlife expert Pushpa Kumar, the only non-government member of the team, raised doubts over the delayed diagnosis. The staff should have conducted blood-tests of tigers once every two months. he said. “This would have enabled the authorities to have better information regarding the health of the tigers. Also, management practices need to be upgraded for proper coordination among zoo authorities and Veterinary Experts and to involve all employees in the development and restoration of facilities in the zoo,” he aid.