Mother of 10, Samruddhi tigress passes away

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A pal of gloom descended on the campus of the Siddharth Garden Zoo after some 15-year-old tigress ‘Samruddhi’, died of renal failure, today early morning (3 am). The tigress had given birth to 10 cubs so far. Out of which, seven are housed in the same zoo.

Meanwhile, the caretakers of the tigress and her partner in the enclosure, Siddharth, have also got numbed over the sudden demise.

The pair of big cats, Deepti and Guddu, gave birth to Samruddhi in 2010. After she had grown up, Samruddhi was paired with Siddharth in the enclosure. She then delivered 10 cubs, so far. Meanwhile, two tigers were shifted to Ahmedabad and one to Pune.

According to experts, Samruddhi stopped consuming food and water for the last week. She was admitted to the veterinary hospital on the zoo campus on April 4. Her blood samples were sent for testing. The Kidney Functioning Test report hinted at the rise in creatinine and urea in blood. The veterinary officer Dr Nitisingh and the team were treating her, but there was no response. Hence Samruddhi breathed her last on Saturday at 3 am while undergoing treatment.

Post-mortem, panchanama and last rites

The assistant commissioner (animal husbandry) Dr R H Pedgaonkar, Dr Mahesh Pawar and livestock development officer Dr S K Rathod during the post-mortem also noticed heart failure of Samruddhi. Later on, a team of the Department of Forest (DoF) comprising assistant conservator Asha Chavan, range forest officer D B Taur, A D Tangad, Vishwas Salve, and Raju Mhaske performed the panchanama. The additional municipal commissioner Ranjit Patil was also present on the occasion.

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The municipal corporation established the zoo in 1982. Samruddhi is the lone tigress till today to have given birth to 10 cubs, so far. It is history. She gave birth to four cubs during her first delivery; five cubs and one cub during the second and third deliveries.

Samruddhi was indeed a caring and responsible mother. She would take adequate care of her newborns after delivery. She would milk them regularly and would also consume her meals regularly.

Veterinary experts believe that pressure on the kidney would have been caused due to less consumption of water by the tigress.