The Forest department handed over a female tiger captured from near Mylambadi in Wayanad last week to the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo on Friday.
The tigress, aged around six years, was caught from the south Wayanad forest division on March 12 following public protests after it strayed into a human settlement and devoured three domestic animals. Identified by forest officials as WYS-07, the big cat had been temporarily accommodated in the animal hospice and palliative care unit at Sulthan Bathery.
The tiger’s ill-health has prevented its release into the wild and necessitated specialised treatment at the zoo. It has multiple wounds on its body and has lost all four of its canine teeth. This could have led the animal to stray into human habitations in search of an easy prey, official sources said.
Zoo veterinary surgeon Nikesh Kiran pointed out that preliminary examination of the animal found that it does not suffer from viral diseases caused by canine parvovirus and canine distemper viruses. Nonetheless, the tiger’s health remains a cause for concern, he said.
It has been housed in a specially-designed quarantine facility and will be shifted to a normal cage after completing a 21-day quarantine period.
Leaving no stones unturned for the animal’s well-being, the zoo authorities have installed fans, coolers and water mists in view of the soaring temperatures.
The surgeon pointed out that the zoo currently houses two male tigers and a white tiger couple. The female white tiger has been afflicted with pyometra, a bacterial infection of the uterus, and cannot breed. Under such circumstances, efforts will be made to use the zoo’s new inmate for breeding after it regains health.
