Painful end to 'Srinivas'

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 7. After enthralling visitors for the last 21 years, a massive `Srinivas' had to meet a painful end. The rhino which was a popular animal in the Nehru Zoological Park died on Monday possibly because of acute abdominal pain.

Srinivas was quite normal in the morning and even took its daily feed of around 300 kg of grass and `daana'. "Suddenly around 9.30 a.m., he started growling and bellowing aloud. He was struggling to stand on his feet and the massive animal kept falling on the ground near the moat," recalled the Assistant Curator, Mr. Rama Rao.

Obviously, unable to bear the pain, the nearly 3.5 tonne rhino repeatedly charged at the iron fence around its enclosure. The thick fence got twisted out of shape at many places. To watch the animal suffer was painful for the zoo authorities too. All what they could do was to administer four shots of sedatives through the tranquiliser gun in the hope of providing some relief for the rhino. "It's a wild animal and we could do nothing to restrain it". Finally the end for the 21-year-old came at around 4 p.m.

With the death of Srinivas, the zoo is now left with only one rhino, the female partner of Srinivas which was brought from Kanpur. This rhino couple gave birth to four offspring all of which were gifted to various zoos in the country, including Visakhapatnam and New Delhi.

A preliminary report of autopsy conducted on the animal on Tuesday suggested that it had died of `torsion of alimentary canal below the stomach'. The autopsy was performed at the rhino park by a team of doctors headed by retired Professor of Pathology, Dr. Ramakrishna.

"During the autopsy, the experts checked for all possible causes for the death," Mr. Joseph said. A final autopsy report was expected in a week's time. Two teams of experts from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the Veterinary Biological Research Institute (VBRI) were also present during the autopsy and collected samples for analysis.

Almost all the zoo staff were present when the rhinoceros, one of the oldest inmates of the zoo, was buried in the premises. Incineration of the carcass was felt unnecessary as "it was healthy and free from any contagious diseases," Mr. Joseph added.

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