Within hours of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), a statutory body under the Union Environment Ministry, setting up a three-member panel on Friday to enquire into the prolonged illness of the Bengal tiger Rama in Delhi Zoo, the eight-year-old big cat died of kidney failure.

A blood report indicated very high phosphorous content and creatinine levels impacted the functioning of kidneys, said an official in the CZA which has recently taken over the Delhi Zoo under its fold following allegations of mismanagement and violation of rights of captive animals. The average lifespan of a tiger in captivity is around 20 years.

The deceased tiger was brought from the Mysore zoo in 2014 and was unwell since July 27, 2019. It was not eating enough and showing signs of distress, in other words stereotypic behaviour, including rocking, pacing, head weaving, tongue playing, etc, which is a sign of stress, the CZA official explained.

However, in what is being seen as a delay in providing medical treatment to the ailing animals, sources in the Delhi Zoo said while the tiger had shown signs of illness by July 27 itself, it was only on August 14 that an inspection was conducted by the zoo’s veterinary officer.

Thereafter, the animal was kept in a squeeze cage for examination purposes. A squeeze cage is like a normal cage but with a moveable panel which can be adjusted to restrict the movement of animals for vaccinating and examining them.

The panel set up by the CZA member secretary SP Yadav comprising PC Tyagi, senior fellow at Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Parag Nigam, veterinarian and Dr Abhilash Khandekar, CZA member , also has the mandate to look into the “status of upkeep, housing and appropriateness of treatment to 59-year-old Chimpanzee Rita”, another inmate of the Delhi Zoo. She is said to be the oldest chimpanzee in India.

The CZA panel has also been asked to study the hygienic status of the Delhi Zoo and submit a report within three days.

Spread over 176 acres, Delhi Zoo from time to time has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. On January 8, 2019, in an explosive affidavit filed before the Delhi High Court, a panel led by the then CZA member secretary DN Singh (who is now retired), pointed out several irregularities such as fudging of animal death data, not carrying post-mortem in case of unnatural animal death, concealing of animal deaths, and mysterious nature of deaths among others. The panel had sought action against the erring officials. The affidavit had also alleged that no corrective action appears to have been taken by the Environment Ministry against those responsible for irregularities observed in Delhi Zoo.

The panel was set up in 2017 at the behest of the Environment Ministry following the string of allegations over a prolonged period of time. Between 2016 and 2017, the Delhi Zoo reportedly lost over 320 animals.