Two panther cubs that were brought into Udaipur Zoo a day ago died here of infection on Tuesday afternoon. The cubs were rescued from a farm near Mahi river in Pratapgarh district on Sunday by the forest department after being spotted by a villager who reported it to the officials.

The cubs were brought to Udaipur on Monday and immediately taken to vet care. However, the one and a half months old cubs were too weak and perhaps were infected.

“Both the cubs were very weak. They were given medication and kept in a warm room, however, they couldn’t be saved as they had caught some infection from the place they were found” said Ramsingh, caretaker of the Gulab Bagh zoo here.

The cubs were found at the same place where two weeks ago , a female panther was spotted dead. The cubs are suspected to be the young ones of the dead animal. However, spotting of the cubs at the same place by the same person who reported of the dead panther raised suspicions that the animal might have been killed.

The department has not lodged a complaint against anyone so far. The viscera of the panther has been sent for lab analysis to know the reason of death.

“The dead panther could be the mother of these cubs, though we are not sure of it” said Rahul Bhatnagar, the Chief Conservator Forest (wild life). The cubs were spotted by one Heera son of Tejia at Panadia forest on Sunday who informed it immediately to the ranger Mansoor Ahmed at Peepal khoont.

The foresters had let the cubs stay at the same place overnight anticipating that the mother panther would come looking for them. However, when no female panther appeared till Monday noon, the cubs were taken in the departments custody and sent to Udaipur Zoo, however the young ones couldn’t survive.

Contributed by: Geetha Sunil Pillai