Tiger cub Juhi is dead

Juhi, one of the two tiger cubs rescued from Mendki village in Brahmapuri Forest Division in Chandrapur District, died of ulcerative gastro-enteritis in Nagpur's Maharajbagh zoo early Tuesday morning. With its death the intensive, often heroic, efforts by doctors, forest officials, and conservationists over the last fortnight to save the ailing cub have ended. Juhi died at 5.20 am on Tuesday and was cremated in the zoo premises at 3.30 pm in an atmosphere uncharacteristically charged with emotions. Everybody who attended on the cub since its rescue from angry villagers on Nov 2 felt a sense of loss.Earlier, after learning of cub’s death, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), B Majumdar, honorary wildlife warden Gopal Thosar and conservationists Harshawardhan and Poonam Dhanwatey, who played a vital role in rescuing the cubs from angry villagers, also visited the zoo. The two cubs, both about eight month old, were brought to Maharajbagh Zoo for treatment on the night of November 2, in a state of shock after being traumatised by a mob of violent villagers. Both the cubs, named Juhi and Jai, were undergoing treatment at Maharajbagh since November 3. Of the two, ‘Juhi’, that looked weaker of the two from the start, was systematically treated for various complications like diarrhoea, worms and later bloody enteritis, which led to its haemoglobin levels falling alarmingly. In response, the vets tried a pioneering blood transfusion on it on Sunday. The blood was arranged on a war-footing by the forest department from two white tigers in Borivali National Park Mumbai and flown to Nagpur. The cub appeared to show a brief recovery after transfusion but collapsed later.

Jai, the second cub brought to the zoo with Juhi, is now totally alone. The female cubs were virtually orphaned after being separated from their mother, that may even have been killed by poachers, but at least had each other for company. Now with its sibling gone, Jai will have an added trauma. Fortunately, it has responded well to treatment and is active. The zoo authorities had kept their cages close by so they could watch each other. ‘Jai’ used to watch its ailing ‘sister’ being treated by a battery of doctors but would see it no more. Its cage was kept completely away from human presence. Dr Shirish Upadhye says, “I don’t think Juhi’s absence will affect Jai a lot. She is normal and her food intake is also all right. Only medicine for worms and multivitamin tablets are being given to her. Still, the cub is likely to remain in the zoo for foreseeable future. Experts say it cannot be released in the wild any more. It has yet to learn hunting and survival skills. These cannot be taught to it by human beings. Besides, it will have grown used to human presence by the time it is completely fit which would be extremely dangerous for it. The forest department, subject to permission of Central Zoo Authority, will decide on its final location. Though officially no one would comment, everybody among Maharajbagh staff is hoping the zoo would be allowed to keep Jai and, maybe, get company for it from another zoo in future.