[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 26 Aug: A tigress named Sahini suffered serious injury in a fight with a male tiger at the Biological Park here on Monday.
Considering the serious nature of the injury, the authorities immediately decided to conduct surgery, and a team was constituted for it. Sahini was operated on Tuesday by a team consisting of zoo vet Dr Sorang Tadap and veterinary surgeon Dr Nido Tayo under general anaesthesia, with limited veterinary medical facilities in the field condition.
The surgery lasted for around 45 minutes, and a 7-inch deep wound was surgically closed during the operation. Following administration of reversal drugs, the tigress recovered fully within 30 minutes and was walking in her enclosure within 50 minutes of surgery.
The operation was carried out under the guidance of Zoo Director Subu Hania, and Curator Raya Flago, along with the staff of the zoo.
Talking to this daily, Dr Tadap informed that Sahini is recovering and is expected to make a full recovery in the days to come. “We will monitor her recovery progress daily,” said Dr Tadap.
Further, he said, “Every surgical case on a big cat is a great challenge in nature, but with teamwork and proper planning, we were able to perform the surgery successfully. The biggest challenge is wildlife anaesthesia. As a wildlife veterinarian, I feel more satisfaction even if a single wild animal out of 10 can be saved by me.”
Sahini was brought to the Itanagar Biological Park in 2023 from Nandankanan Zoo, Odisha, under the zoo animal exchange programme, covering a distance of over 1,600 kms in four days and three nights by Dr Tadap and his team.
This was not the first time that such a complex surgery on a big cat was performed at the Biological Park. In 2024, Dr Tadap and Dr Tayo had successfully removed a malignant tumour from another tigress, named Chippi, who remains in good health at present.
