Leopard Dies At Nandankanak Zoological Park

Bhubaneswar: A male leopard named Suraj, aged about 16 years, died yesterday at 11 PM. According to Nandankan authorities, it was under treatment for blood protozoan infection, Babesiosis, a tick borne disease, since last one and half months. It was responding with improvement in appetite and diarrhoea subsided but yesterday afternoon it suddenly fell sick with respiratory distress which might be due internal bleeding. The exact cause of the death will be ascertained after Post Mortem today.

The Leopard was rescued from Bhanjanagar in July 2004 at the age of 3-4 months and reared at Nandankanan. After the death of this Leopard, Nandankanan now has 3 Male and 2 Female Leopards. The average life span of a Leopard is 12 to 17 years.

In another development, 4 Male Asiatic Lions and a pair of Fox from Kanan Pendari Zoo Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh, have reached Nandankanan Tuesday under Animal Exchange Programme approved by the Central Zoo Authority. The Zoo of Bilaspur will take one pair of Hippos from Nandankanan shortly. With the addition of these species, the number of Lions at Nandankanan has increased to 15 (8 Males+ 7 Females) and the number of Fox has gone up to 4 (2 Male + 2 Female).