Bilaspur, Apr 22 (PTI) A 10-year-old white tiger died of heart failure at Kanan Pendari Zoological Garden in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, officials said on Tuesday.
The big cat named Akash was the only male white tiger in the zoo, about 135 km from the capital, Raipur, a zoo official said.
He said the tiger's condition suddenly deteriorated, and he died at 9.11 am on Monday.
A team of veterinarians conducted a post-mortem in the presence of senior forest officials, and an independent expert cited congestive heart failure as the cause of death, the official said.
Superintendent of the zoo, Bhopal Singh Rajput, said, "Akash was the only male white tiger in the zoo, and he was born here on May 16, 2015."
He said the big cat was completely healthy and did not show symptoms of any disease until sometime before his death.
"The zoo now has two white tigresses, Akash's mother 'Siddhi' and sister 'Isha'," he said.
Rajput said they are in the process of bringing a white tiger from Gwalior Zoo, but this may take some more time due to the scorching summer.