Chennai: A day after a 14-year-old leopardess Jaya died in a squeeze cage, an employee of Aringnar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur was suspended on Tuesday. The leopardess that was put on a squeeze cage for taking swabs for Covid-19 testing choked to death in the rusty cage on Monday.
The cause of the death as per Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University was that the leopardess’ rib got squeezed and the oxygen flow got restricted to the lungs. As a result, there was a blood clot and hemorrhage in the brain, reports The New Indian Express
Also Read | Republic Day 2022: Rajnath Singh Writes To Mamata, Stalin Over Rejection Of State Tableaux
The animals are usually put into a cage to immobilize them and to ease the collection of samples. However, after collecting the swab, the workers were unable to open the cage completely and the animal got stuck which eventually resulted in the death of the animal.
Following the incident, an employee had been suspended in connection with the accident.
Meanwhile, a five-year-old Lion Vishnu also died recently due to an esophageal problem, according to a report on PTI.
The zoo authorities first started collecting samples of the animals after 70 zoo staff showed symptoms of novel coronavirus infection. All the workers were quarantined but still the two deaths took place on Monday after the samples of the animals were lifted. The samples of 16 animals collected in the zoo as a precautionary measure had been sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal.