LAHORE, April 19: Brita, the five-year old white tigress of the Lahore Zoo, has been diagnosed as suffering from epilepsy, say officials.

Lahore Zoo director Raja Javed told Dawn here on Saturday that the tigress, who had a CT scan at the Shaukat Khanum Research Centre on the Jail Road on Thursday, had had fits due to epilepsy. No tumour was detected. However, the doctors had finally succeeded in diagnosing the exact cause of her illness.

Mr Javed said the big cat was being treated for the disease as prescribed by the doctors and it would thoroughly be re-examined after one week.

Referring to the living conditions of the carnivores, 15 in number, at the zoo, he said they were being kept in pairs. He said tigers liked seclusion only in jungles.

Brita, which was born along with a tiger and tigress in March 1998 in the zoo, fell ill about a month ago. She belongs to an endangered breed of tigers called Bengal tigers which is on the red data list of the International Union for Conservation Nature (IUCN).

According to the WWF officials, about 100 Bengal tigers are left in the world and are not being properly taken care of. Seven of them are housed in the Lahore zoo.