KARACHI, Nov 19: An over-20-year-old Bengal tiger, which had been unwell for quite some time, died on Monday.

This was the sixth death in the city zoo over the past few months as only recently the zoo had witnessed the deaths of a female leopard, a male Chacma baboon, a red deer, a Shetland pony and a nilgai (an antelope species) one after the other, sources told Dawn.

Zoo officials claimed that the male Bengal tiger was very old. “The aging big cat suffered a third attack of paralysis on Monday and couldn’t survive,” said Karachi Zoo Director Bashir Saddozai.

However, when he was asked about the recent deaths of other animals at the zoo, the director said that these animals might have died before he had joined the zoo.

“I took over as zoo director in the first week of October and these animals might have died either before that period or when I just joined in,” he said.

He confirmed to Dawn the deaths of the female leopard and the Shetland pony only.

Zoo officials said that the Bengal tiger was more than 20 years old, while usually the lifespan of big cats in captivity was between 16 and 20 years.

According to sources, the zoo used to have four Bengal tigers, two males and two females. One of the pairs had been brought to Karachi from Lahore in November 2004.

The zoo lost three of them over the years and is now left with only one male Bengal tiger from the old pairs.

While a few months ago, the zoo had imported two pairs of Bengal tigers and white lions at a cost of Rs17 million, the former were meant for the Safari Park and would be shifted there once their enclosure was ready, the sources said.

According to the sources, the male Chacma baboon (also known as cape baboon) died last month when it fell from the tree after being hit by a shot of a tranquiliser gun. The red deer also had a similar death as it couldn’t get up after getting a tranquiliser shot. Now, the zoo was left with three female baboons, the sources added.

The lone Shetland pony, they said, died after remaining under treatment for some time, whereas the nilgai died after suffering injuries in a fight.

The female leopard, the lone leopard at the zoo, was captured from the densely wooded area of Galiyat of Murree and gifted to the city district government of Karachi by the NWFP wildlife department in 2006.

Ironically, the big cat, whose natural habitat constitutes forests and watercourses of the north, was initially kept in a turkey cage in Safari Park. Later, it was shifted to a small cage with cemented floor of the Landhi-Korangi zoo and then to the Karachi zoo when its plight was highlighted in the media.

Interestingly, the leopard lacks the four long canines and neither the Safari Park nor the zoo staffers have any idea about how and when the teeth were lost or extracted.