Jaipur: Nahargarh lioness – Tejika – dies under mysterious circumstances

Jaipur: In a major setback to the Rajasthan government’s plan to launch lion safari in Nahargarh Biological Park, the popular lioness – Tejika – died under mysterious circumstances.

Her carcass was spotted by park employees on Tuesday morning. The incident has left wildlife lover shocked. Tejika had littered three cubs recently, giving wings to the state government’s lion safari plans.

“A sanitation worker spotted Tejika lying without any movements on Tuesday morning. We studied the CCTV footages to ascertain what happened,” said a park officer.

The Asiatic lioness was roaming around in her cage till 8.20 pm on Monday. She suddenly collapsed to the ground. Park authorities suspect that she died immediately.

A postmortem examination has been conducted. Prima-facie, it seems the lioness died of cardiac arrest.

Tejika had been brought to Jaipur in January, 2016. She suffered from paralysis in October 2016, but in a sheer example of survival instinct, she recovered.

Asiatic lioness Tejika had given birth to five cubs over a period of three days in May. The officials said that the lioness gave birth to five cubs over a period of three days. One of them was born dead, while another struggled for life due to excessive weakness. It also died while undergoing treatment.

Three cubs, however, survived much to the joy of wildlife lovers.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje  had revealed the names of three cubs on her Twitter handle and introduced them to her social media followers in July last year.

The three cubs were named Tara, Tripura and Tejas. They are nearly seven months old now.

Earlier in May, the forest department invited tenders to develop an area around the park for taking tourists on a lion safari. The tenders were invited after getting a go-ahead from the Rajasthan government. Raje had announced that an area around Nahargarh Biological Park would be developed for lion safari.