White tiger 'Kishan' dies of cancer in Chhattisgarh zoo

Durg: A nine-year-old male white tiger named 'Kishan' died of cancer at Maitri Baag zoo in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, an official said on Wednesday. The tiger died on Tuesday in the zoo located in Bhilai city, about 35 km away from Raipur, the zoo official said.

Maitri Baag is maintained by the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship unit of the country's largest steel maker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
Kishan was treated for cancer under veterinarians from Maitri Bagh and wildlife specialists from the Anjora Veterinary Hospital in Durg, the official said.

The postmortem was conducted in the presence of senior forest officials. Kishan's last rites were performed on Tuesday evening, he said. Kishan was born to Sundar (tiger) and Kamala (tigress). Kamala had given birth to five cubs during her life before her death in 2016, the official said.

Out of the five white tiger cubs, three were given to the Rajkot Zoo in Gujarat in exchange for a pair of lions. At present, the Maitri Baag zoo has five white tigers. The zoo authority, which had halted the breeding of white tigers, is planning to restart it now, he added.