Kanpur:
A nine-month-old tiger cub has died after suffering from respiratory problems in Kanpur Zoo, officials said today.
"The cub contracted an infection in its respiratory system and was under treatment for four days. But it succumbed last evening," said Zoo Director K K Thomas.
Mr Thomas said that the male cub was one of the three offsprings born last July to a tigress named Trisha, who had been brought to the zoo from Gujarat's Junagadh in 2011.
The director added that the other two cubs were doing fine.
Meanwhile, an RTI query filed by a social worker has brought forth the revelation that 393 animals have died in Kanpur Zoo since April 2009 till present due to various reasons although no official measures have been taken to check the high mortality rate of animals in the zoo.
In a recent example of human lapses which proved fatal for animals in the zoo, 31 black bucks were killed after being attacked by stray, wild dogs in an incident which was reported on January 20 of this year.
The attack led to the suspension of seven zoo employees including director K Pravin Rao and three security staff on night duty at the time of the incident.