• Golden tabby tiger was alone for a decade
• Committee set up to investigate the death

KARACHI: The Karachi zoo witnessed the fourth big cat fatality in three years on Thursday when an exotic male tiger was reported dead in the morning.

According to sources, the 13-year-old golden tabby tiger had been ill for a long time and apparently failed to receive proper care.

A Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) official, however, denied this information, specially the age, and insisted that the tiger was old and had completed its average lifespan in captivity.

“The average lifespan of big cats in captivity is between 22 and 25 years and the tiger was 21 years old. He died of cardiac arrest after remaining ill for some time,” KMC spokesperson Ali Hassan Sajid claimed, adding that the tiger had received good care at the facility.

A team had carried out the autopsy and the report would be available soon, he said, adding that the zoo was now left with three male lions.

The sources said Karachi Administrator Dr Saifur Rehman had set up a committee to investigate the death.

The sources added that it was the fourth big cat fatality at the zoo.

Last year, the zoo lost a lion, one of the four big cats, which were shifted to the zoo following their seizure by the customs authorities in 2010.

The year 2021 saw the death of a male lion and a white lioness in different months.

The KMC officials, however, blamed all these deaths on the animals’ old age.

Solitary life

The sources said the golden tabby tiger had been alone since 2013 when he lost his mate after arriving at the Safari Park from Lahore under a controversial animal exchange deal.

The animals, they said, were acquired from a Lahore-based ‘party’ without the mandatory permission of the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD).

“The tigress died within two weeks of their arrival at the Safari after which the tiger was shifted to the zoo,” an official stated on the condition of anonymity, adding that the animals were four-year-old at that time.

The exotic big cat, sources said, died due to improper handling of the staff, who reportedly kept the animal in a small dark concrete room for four days.

Her death remained shrouded in mystery as the KMC’ inquiry into the case was never made public.

According to the Zoological Wildlife Foundation, golden tiger or golden tabby tiger is one with an extremely rare colour variation caused by a recessive gene that is currently only found in captive tigers. Like the white tiger, it is a colour form and not a separate species.

There are currently believed to be fewer than 30 of these rare tigers in the world, but many more carriers of the gene.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2023