Bhubaneswar: In yet another shock to animal lovers in the state, a sloth bear died following an illness at the Nandankanan Zoological Park in the city on Sunday.
The bear namely ‘Banki’ was under treatment at the veterinary unit of the park for past few days and succumbed at the age of 30 this morning.
Notably, the sloth bear had been brought to Nandankanan on July 18, 2006 after being rescued from a Dhaba in Banki area of Cuttack district.
With the death of ‘Banki’ the total number of bears lodged at the park has plummeted to 14.
Regular inmate deaths at Nandankanan have become a headache for zoo authorities in recent times. While an 8-year-old African male lion died at the zoo on August 10 this year, another lion of lion of the same species was found dead inside the lion’s safari on August 29.
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Ms Kalinga