Bhubaneswar: The visitors witnessed a fierce fight between a white Royal Bengal tigress and a python inside an enclosure in Nandankanan Zoo on Tuesday.
According to zoo sources, the incident took place around 11.30 am when an 11-feet python entered the enclosure-32 of Rupa, a five-year-old white tigress.
As soon as the tigress spotted the python, she pounced on it. Seeing the tigress, the python got terrified and curled up to a corner to protect itself with a hiss.
Hearing the tigress growl, the zoo staff rushed to the enclosure and tried to keep it away from the python. But the tigress kept striking the python with its paws. The python too tried to slither out of the enclosure but in vain.
The relentless attack left the python with deep injuries on its stomach and other parts of the body.
After about 15 minutes, the zoo staff finally managed to drive the tigress away from the enclosure and rescued the python.
The injured python was taken to the veterinary hospital inside the zoo, where Indramani Nath of the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) and his team immediately provided first-aid and later took it to the OUAT where the injured parts of the body were stitched.
Talking to mediapersons, Nath said that the operation has been successful and the python is being kept under observation.
Although a snake can live without food for 7-8 days, the injured python will be given liquid food like the albumin and yolk of eggs till the wounds are healed, he said.
“It will then be fed with rats. Once it recovers completely, we release it in the wild,” Nath added.
It may be mentioned that a crocodile had entered the tiger enclosure recently.
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