After White Tiger Bijaya, Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoo Loses Female Elephant ‘Prema’

Bhubaneswar: ‘Prema’, a female elephant of Nandankanan Zoological Park on Bhubaneswar outskirts, died during treatment on Friday.

According to sources, Prema, aged around 66-67 years old, was found to be critically ill early this morning. It had fallen unconscious while feeding on grass on Thursday and was immediately treated by a veterinarian.

Deputy director of Nandankanan zoo Chittaranjan Mishra informed that the elephant had been suffering from old-age-related health issues. It has not been keeping well since July month. It had also sustained an injury on its right leg and was being treated by a special group of doctors.

With Prema’s death, the number of elephants in the zoo has come down to 3.

It is pertinent to mention here that one of the major attractions of the zoo, the 11-year-old white tigress Bijaya died on October 22. The postmortem revealed that there was cancerous growth in around 90 per cent of its lungs, a rare case. The zoo now has 25 tigers including six white tigers.

Prior to that a baby hippo, which was born on September 27, died on October 4.