A young tiger cub suffering mystery seizures has been put to sleep by heartbroken vets at London Zoo.
Loki, who was 10 weeks old, had been in and out of London Zoo’s veterinary hospital since he had his first seizure on last Friday.
The Sumatran tiger cub, who gained international attention when he was born at the London attraction in December, had been resting in the company of his mum Gaysha in the warm surroundings of their indoor dens.
After a week of unexplained seizures, each worse than the last, London Zoo said Loki was facing an increasingly limited quality of life.
It lead vets to make the “heartbreaking” decision to euthanise him on Thursday.
London Zoo’s vets had teamed up with neurologists at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) to give Loki MRI scans.
However, the MRI scans did not reveal what was causing the seizures which are rare in cubs so young.
Results from previous blood tests and X-rays had come back inconclusive but they ruled out a brain tumour, infections and parasites.
Dedicated zookeepers placed the cub under 24/7 monitoring since last Friday and they had been continuing to keep watch via remote CCTV overnight.
By Thursday morning, and with no sign of any further seizures, Loki enjoyed a calm morning playing outside with dad Asim.
Loki then had another serious seizure that confirmed the vets’ worst fears - Loki’s fits were not going to stop and his health would only decline.
A London Zoo spokesman said: “Being responsible for an animal’s welfare, means sometimes making decisions that break your heart. But we know we made the right one.
“We will of course continue our efforts to understand Loki’s condition. Our vets will carry out a post-mortem examination and the results will be shared with the global zoo community and conservationists in the hope that we can help another tiger cub – and the future of this Critically Endangered species.
“We had all fallen in love with little Loki and know that many of you had too.”
