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Mysore, June 7- The veterinarians of Mysore Zoo today embarked upon a gigantic task of conducting a surgery on the wounded male tiger which was rescued from Nagarahole forests last night.
The team of veterinarians include Dr. S.M.S. Khadri, Dr. Valandikar and Dr. Shadakshara Murthy.
The tiger, aged about nine years, which was hiding in a cave near Mastigudi area of Balle forest range since May 31, was rescued by the Nagarahole officials after a lengthy operation which took nearly 12 hours. It was around 9 pm when the roaring tiger entered the cage put up by the rescue team at the entrance of the cave.
The animal was brought to the Zoo at around 2.30 am today and it was shifted to the hospital in the premises.
The animal, which has been named as "Tiger Masti," is suffering from injuries caused by the jaw trap laid by someone to trap wild boars.
The animal has lost its paw of the fore left leg and the Zoo doctors today said there was no alternative but to amputate that part.
The animal, which seemed disturbed due to the new environment, roared and tried to attack the people standing outside the cage.
The beast was first bathed with water and then with a solution of Potassium Permanganate, before the surgery.
Dr. Khadri told Star of Mysore that the tiger will be kept in the hospital for atleast a month for observation till the wound was healed and later it will be sent to the Rescue Centre at Bannerghatta National Park.
He said, there was a ban on public exhibition of wounded animals.
The staff, who brought the animal from the forests, said the tiger slept during the journey. The hungry tiger was fed with six kgs of chicken last night soon after the rescue operation and two kgs of the same stuff this morning.
The carnivore, weighing about 130 kgs, is 6 ft in length and 3 ft. in height.
It may be recalled here that the limping animal with a jaw trap was first spotted by some tourists of Karapur Jungle Lodges and Resorts during a safari. This led to the search for the animal by the Nagarahole forest officials.
Finally, an army of about 120 forest officials assisted by 12 elephants traced the animal in a cave at Mastigudi at 9 am yesterday.
The rescuers dug holes in the cave from above and poured water to force the tiger to come out to enter the cage. However, the task was fulfilled at 9 pm.
A mahout finally threw a noose around the neck of the animal and dragged it into the cage.
Nagarahole DCF Mr. A.M. Annaiah, CCF Mr. Anur Reddy, ACFs Mr. Devaraj and Mr. Thimmaiah, RFOs Mr. K.Ravindra, Mr. S.N. Venkatesh, Mr. Govindaswamy, Mr. Rangaiah and Mr. Ravindrakumar, veterinarians Dr. Nagaraj, Dr. Valandikar and Dr. Chittiappa participated in the rescue operation.
Conservator of Forests Mr. Ravi Ralph and Zoo Director Mr. Kumar Pushkar were present at the Zoo during the surgery today.-MRS&RR
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