Mysuru: A seven-year-old male tiger, which was seriously injured after an elephant had gored its back in a fight at Bandipur Tiger Reserve and undergoing treatment at Mysuru Zoo, has succumbed to injuries on Monday night.

On Oct. 20, an elephant had gored the tiger at Ganjikatte Safari Range in Bandipur in such a way that the intestines and lungs of the tiger was visible through the hole made by the elephant’s tusk. The Forest Department staff, who saw the tiger seriously injured and writhing in pain, rescued the tiger and shifted it to Mysuru Zoo.

Zoo veterinarians, who began treating the injured tiger immediately, saw two large holes near the tiger’s stomach. After taking suggestions from senior vets, the Zoo doctors successfully performed surgeries on the tiger.

After a few days of undergoing surgeries, the tiger seemed to recover, began consuming food and the digestion process was also good.

But the tiger died Monday night and as per the rules, post-mortem was conducted and the tiger was cremated.

The injured tiger was brought to Mysuru Zoo from Bandipur in a critical state. After taking suggestions from higher officials and veterinarians, a surgery was performed on the tiger. Though it was seen that the tiger was recovering, severe infection had developed due to deep wounds and despite trying everything to save the tiger, it died. During post-mortem, it came to be known that there was severe infection in its stomach and also there were damages to its organs.

—Ajit M. Kulkarni, Executive Director, Mysuru Zoo