13-year-old Royal Bengal Tiger dies in Sanjay Gandhi National Park

(Image for representational purposes only)

Mumbai: World Animal Day turned out to be a day of mourning instead of being a day designated to celebrate the world's animals. A news as unfortunate as this couldn't have come on a worse day.

A much-loved resident of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in suburban Borivali, a 13-year-old Tiger by the name of Palash, died due to age-related ailments.

Palash, the tiger, was the second oldest Royal Bengal Tiger of Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Palash had been on saline for four days, but chances of his survival were grim due to renal failure, veterinarian Dr Shailesh Pethe said. The tigers in protected areas generally live up to 16 years, Dr Pethe added.

Palash's serum creatinine levels had shot up and it died due to excessive weakness. A postmortem was conducted on Tuesday and the exact cause of death would be inferred from the results that are expected in a couple of days, an official of the national park said.

The majestic feline's funeral took place within the premises of the National Park itself. He had fathered four off-springs – two males and two females – out of which, one of his female cubs had died in February, 2015 due to septicaemia or blood poisoning.

(With PTI inputs)