Visakhapatnam: The tigers and lions which were once the nucleus of all attraction in various popular circuses in India and later rescued from there and brought to the Animal Rescue Centre, just opposite the Vizag zoo, have been dying one after other. Within three days of the ongoing week, a tiger and a lion died in the centre. Meanwhile, the zoo authorities are planning to turn the rescue centre into a white tiger safari as all the animals have already lived their 90 per cent of their life span.
Tiger Vasu, aged around 28 and 30-year-old male lion Ramu died on March 5 and March 8 respectively. When asked about the reason of the death, zoo curator B. Vijaya Kumar said, “Vasu rescued from Famous Circus and Ramu from Prabhat Circus were brought to the centre in 2002 and 2004 respectively. They outlived and completed fullest of life span and died a natural death.
“The life span of the carnivores in wild is from 12 to 16 years. As they were in the rescue centre and were under care with regular health monitoring, they could live more years than average life span,” the zoo curator said. As many as 32 lions and 30 tigers were in the ARC once and the number has come down to 10 and three respectively. The lioness Priya rescued from Ajanta Circus is also remaining unwell and is undergoing regular treatment.
“We have been providing the best care to the animals. Despite all, keeping the old animals alive is big challenge. After the animals die a natural death, the rescue centre could be used as white tiger safari,” he added.
