Guwahati: An African lioness died of a snake bite at the Nandan Kanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.

The lioness named Ganga was bitten by a venomous snake on Friday inside her enclosure. Zoo authorities said that although they had attempted to cure the lioness, she gave up on the venom.
The post mortem report will reveal the actual cause of death of the lioness, the authorities said.

Deputy Director of the zoo, Sanjit Kumar said that the zoo staff noticed some neurological disorder with the lioness on Friday and immediately started treatment.

While the big cat was being treated, the guards noticed a krait near the water tank of the enclosure.
“So, we assume that the snake might have bitten lioness Ganga”, he added.

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He informed that after the snake was found, anti-venom injections were immediately administered for Ganga but it was too late and she died.

Following the death of the lioness, the Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra (AWTE) filed an FIR against the zoo authorities in relation to the death of the lioness.

The AWTE has accused the zoo authorities of dereliction of duty.

In an FIR, the AWTE found, Purabi Patra said, “Unavailibility of adequate amount of anti-snake venom (ASV) stock resulted in the delay in the treatment of the lioness. As per the Government of India and WHO protocol, 10 numbers of vials of ASV needs to be administered within 1 hour of snakebite. But according to Zoo authorities only three vials had been given (that happened either due to lack of stock of ASV or lack of knowledge of zoo veterinarians). In either case, sheer negligence killed the lioness.”

Patra claimed that as per guidelines laid by the central zoo authority, 10 vials were supposed to be administered as the snakebite medicine, but only three vials were given.

Patra further requested to conduct the lioness’ post-mortem in an unbiased place.

Ganga was an African lioness and was 15 years old. She was brought from Israel in 2015.

It is pertinent to mention that the African Lioness Ganga was aged about 15 years and had come from Israel in 2015.

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The snake that bit the lioness was said to be a common krait also known as the blue krait. It is a species of highly venomous snakes and is native to the Indian subcontinent.

The snake is among the “Big Four” species that inflict the most snakebites on humans in India and Bangladesh.