5-year-old Bunty dies after mauled by 7-year-old Kumar at Pilikula

Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 14 Oct 2014: In a tragic incident, a young tigress succumbed to wounds she sustained during a post-mating attack by her male partner at Dr Shivaram Karanth Biological Park, at Pilikula Nisargadhama on the outskirts of the city on Monday.
Pilikula Tiger Bunty, a five-year-old tigress, which was brought from Hyderabad nearly two years ago, breathed her last at around 11 p.m. official sources said.

 

At around 4 p.m. on Monday Kumar, a seven-year-old male tiger, attacked five-year-old Bunty and injured it on its neck at the display enclosure where visitors can see the tigers.

 

A team of experts immediately started treating the critically injured tigress, but her condition was very critical. Finally she breathed her last, a veterinary officer at the park said.

 

The animals were calm for the first few hours after being put in the same enclosure, but Kumar, a local breed, suddenly pounced on Hyderabadi Bunty and caught her by the neck.

 

Director of the park H J Jayaprakash Bhandary linked the attack to mating. He said the park had 10 tigers. Of them, two were female and two were young ones. Only four tigers had been let into the enclosure on Monday.

 

“It took around 15 minutes to send the three male tigers in the enclosure to their respective animal houses and rescue the injured one after the attack,” he said.

 

Such incidents have happened in Delhi, Bhopal and Chennai zoos before but it is the first such case in Pilikula.