Nahargarh Biological Park tiger dies after being infected from weasel urine

Jaipur: An 18-month old tiger died at Nahargarh Biological Park in Jaipur on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports, weasel urine is being cited as the reason for the death. This has worried the park authorities as this may jeopardize the safety of other wild animals also. Another lion, known as Sidhdharth, is already in a critical condition. Senior officials are camping in the park to figure out how to protect other animals from getting infected.

The tiger, known as Rudra, was under observation for the past few days as he was sick. Park authorities suspected that he was suffering from leptospirosis which is caused when a wild animal’s wound comes in contact with water or soil where urine of rates of weasels is present. While rates are rare in Nahargarh biological park, there are a lot of weasels. The park authorities suspect that ‘Rudra’ was infected with leptospirosis by weasel urine.

A postmortem examination of the tiger’s body was conducted. The samples collected during the examination have been sent to a testing lab in Bareilly. Though the authorities have prima-facie ruled out the possibility that the tiger was infected with COVID-19, a test to confirm this will be conducted.

In September last year, three wild animals two tigers and a lion had died under mysterious circumstances in a week. Amid reports about negligence in providing timely treatment to these wild animals, a virus infection was suspected to be the reason for deaths.