Jaipur: In a shocking incident a tiger in the Sajjangarh zoological park in Udaipur attacked and killed a tigress on Thursday evening. The incident reportedly took place in the evening in the display section of the enclosure, while a crowd of visitors was present at the park.
According to an official statement by the Chetan Singh Deora, DFO Udaipur, “The tiger, a 12 year old male named Kumar reportedly broke the net of his enclosure and entered into the section where 15 year old tigress named Damini was present. The tiger entered into a fight with the tigresses and attacked her. The caretaker reportedly tried to create a noise and separate the two, but the tigress was grievously injured and the male strangulated her till she died.”
Speaking to FPJ, GV Reddy, Head of Forest Force said, “We came to know about the incident some time back. The tiger has been now confined to a holding area. It is now dark and so as per rules, post-mortem will be conducted tomorrow. As the tiger is a protected species a committee comprising forest, local administration and police officials will be formed for the looking into the incident. The body will be cremated tomorrow after that.”
An expert that did not wish to be named had a different opinion, “The incident is a rare occurrence, but then animal behaviour is unpredictable. The tiger was probably put in the tigress’s enclosure for mating, but things got violent. A tiger cannot easily break the fencing of the enclosures. There should be a thorough investigation.”
Kumar had been brought to Sajjangarh zoological park in Udaipur in 2017 from Pillikula Zoo, Mangalore and Damini was shifted from Rajiv Gandhi Zoo, Pune in 2015.
