Tiger cub succumbs to injuries two weeks post-rescue

Rescued two weeks ago after being struck by a train in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore, a tiger cub died while undergoing treatment at the Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal, an official said.

The cub died on Tuesday, 30 July as it was not consuming food ever since the rescue, the official of Van Vihar National Park said.

The deceased tiger cub was among the two injured cubs that were rescued and transported from the Midghat section near Budhni in Sehore district to Bhopal in a special single-coach AC train run by the West Central Railway (WCR) on 17 July.

In all, three cubs were found injured after they were struck by a train in the forest area, located 70 km from Bhopal, during the intervening night of July 14-15, an official said.

One of them died of injuries on the spot, while two injured cubs were brought to the rescue centre at Van Vihar National Park for treatment. Detailed health check-ups and X-rays of two tiger cubs were carried out by the veterinary doctors and other medical team members on 17 July, the officials said.

The cubs were being given treatment by the doctors of Van Vihar in consultation with other experts, they said.

The other injured tiger cub's health condition is also critical. The cub is eating food in small quantities and is undergoing treatment. The cub is under constant observation, they said.

But the rear part of the tiger cub's body is not working and no desired improvement is seen in the condition, the officials said.

The post-mortem of the deceased tiger cub was conducted jointly by Dr Atul Gupta, park's wildlife veterinarian, Dr Rajat Kulkarni of Wildlife SOS and Dr Prashant Deshmukh of Wildlife Conservation Trust.

After the post-mortem, the dead tiger cub was cremated as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines at the Van Vihar National Park.