Bhubaneswar: A 17-year-old tiger named ‘Roshan’ died at the Nandankanan Zoological Park on Thursday allegedly due to old age.
The tiger was suffering from some old age ailments and paralysis for the last few days and became serious three days back. On February 4, Roshan was unable to get up due to paralysis of his hind legs and was being treated by veterinary doctors..
He was born to couple Ram and Sriya in 2002. At the age of only 18 months, the big cat was affected with trypanosomiasis, which led to complete loss of eyesight. Roshan fathered at least 10 cubs in the zoo but five of them did not survive.
The death of Roshan has brought down the total number of tigers in the zoo to 27. The average lifespan of a tiger is between 16 years and 18 years in captivity.
