M A I N   N E W S

One more tiger dies, toll 12

BHUBANESWAR, July 7 (PTI) — One more tiger died today of trypanosomysis raising the death toll to 12 in the Nandankanan biological park near here even as a central team of experts arrived to probe the shocking tragedy.

“Abinash”, a white tiger died, around noon, according to Mr Manoj Mohapatra, Assistant Conservator of Forest of Nandan-kanan.

Of the 12 tigers killed so far, nine were white.

The condition of five other tigers, who were administered ‘beneril’ injection on Monday last, was stable, he said.

The Member Secretary of the expert team, Mr P.R. Sinha, and a zoo expert from Chennai, Mr Ram Kumar, on their arrival said the team would submit its report to Union Minister for Forest and Environment T.R. Baalu on July 15.

CUTTACK: Two international tiger experts have said that ‘berenil’, injected to the tigers in the Nandankanan zoo on July 3 is a toxic drug.

This has been communicated to the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) by Dr John Lewis of International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG) and Dr Sarah Christie, London Zoo Conservation Programmes Coordinator.

The zoo authority claimed that berenil was a widely acceptable medicine for trypanosomysis which is spread by flies and there was nothing wrong in prescribing berenil for the tigers.

NEW DELHI (UNI) — The government on Friday scoffed at the reports claiming that the India had sent SOS to international experts to save the lives of remaining tigers as the 12th big cat succumbed to trypanosomysis at Nandankanan Zoological Park.

Environment and Forest Ministry sources said that very little support could be expected from the wild life experts from Europe because typanosomysis was a tropical disease and they did not have an expertise in dealing with such diseases.

Sources also discounted the allegations that the experts team sent to conduct investigations into the death of tigers was without a representative and from a NGO and said that noted zoological consultant Pushp Kumar from Hyderabad was not connected with the government and was there in the capacity of non-government person. He had retired from service nearly a decade ago.

Reacting to the criticism of Dr B.M. Arora, former Director of National Zoological Park, Delhi, that the veterinarians should have administered trinqunine, sources pointed that it was an ‘unfair comment’. Sources said the book authored by Dr B.M.Arora in 1994 “Wild Life Diseases in India” had listed berenil and antrycide as medicines for ministration and not trinquin or quninapyramin, a Wolkhard product. The veterinarians can only fall back upon treatment prescribed in books and past instances.