The Chhatbir Zoo lost a four-year-old white Royal Bengal tigress on Saturday. Belonging to a rare breed, Yamini, was found dead in her cage under mysterious circumstances. This is the second death of a Royal Bengal tiger in the last one year. A few months ago, one-year-old white tiger Gullu too was found dead.

According to zoo authorities, Yamini’s caretaker Sandeep Kumar noticed the tigress lying unconscious when he came to feed her at 9 am. He informed the veterinarian, who declared the tigress dead after examining her. While the exact reason of the death is yet to be ascertained, the present heat wave in the region could be a reason. The tigress was cremated late on Saturday evening after a postmortem was conducted by a panel of three doctors. Samples of the tigress’ vital organs will be sent to a local laboratory and also to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly.

Talking to Newsline, a senior officer at the Chhatbir Zoo said: “Preliminary investigations show that some sort of stress corroborated with pathological history might be the cause of the death.”

Yamini was among the twelve Bengal tigers at Chhatbir Zoo who were brought three years ago from Delhi, said R K Luna, an officer at the zoo. “The average age of a tiger is around 40-50 years but Yamini’s sudden death at the age of four calls for a thorough investigation,” he added.