Tiger DIES `After RARE Blood Transfusion !!!

by **J The Kidd** Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:05 pm

A 7-month-old wild tiger died Tuesday in a central Indian zoo,
two days after veterinarians tried to save the cub with a rare blood
transfusion, officials said.

The cub, which doctors named Juhi after a fragrant white flower
native to India, had shown signs of improvement, but suddenly went into
convulsions Tuesday, said Bimal Majumdar, the chief wildlife officer in
Nagpur city.

Juhi, a 7-month-old female cub, was the first tiger in India, and
perhaps anywhere, to receive a blood transfusion. Veterinarians gave
her the procedure in an unsuccessful bid to save her life. Juhi and her
sister were apparently abandoned by their mother. Then villagers beat
the starving cubs with sticks because they feared the animals would go
after cattle or children.

"We have lost the battle. She got convulsions this morning and we tried
our best to save her," said Majumdar. "But she stopped breathing and
that's how the end came."

Veterinarians gave her a blood transfusion — the first time such
a procedure has been done on a tiger in India — believing it was
the only way to save the cub after its hemoglobin levels had dropped to
dangerously low levels.

Juhi and her sister, Jai, had been rescued from angry villagers who had
tried to kill the cats, fearing they would attack children and cattle.

Doctors said the cubs, who appeared to have been abandoned by their
mother, were weak, starving and wounded when they were brought to the
zoo, some 530 miles (850 kilometers) southeast of New Delhi.

Jai responded well to treatment, but Juhi's condition continued to deteriorate.
India's wild tiger population has plummeted to some 1,500 — down
from about 3,600 six years ago and an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
Shrinking habitats have brought the wild cats into conflict with
farmers and poachers who kill them for pelts and body parts, highly
prized in traditional Chinese medicine.

Tiger DIES `After RARE Blood Transfusion !!! FUCKUPAYMEUNDERRATEDOVERWORKEDUNDERPAID