The white tiger ‘Sameer’ was brought to the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati from the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad from Telangana as a five-year-old cub in 2011. | Photo credit: File photo
The white tiger ‘Sameer’, a crowd favorite for fourteen years at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP) in Tirupati, died early on Sunday (October 19, 2025) of age-related ailments.
The big cat, about 19 years old, was brought from the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, Telangana as a five-year-old cub in 2011. After its mobility was restricted due to age-related problems, the tiger was not introduced to the public at the zoo for more than a year and was confined to its night house. Sameer was in intensive care for a long time due to complications.
With a loss of appetite for solid food, the big cat was kept on a liquid diet for the past three months. The zoo’s veterinary team, which had been monitoring her health throughout, discovered that she had also stopped consuming liquid food.
An autopsy by a team from the pathology department of the Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) concluded that the cause of death was hydronephrosis, a kidney disease associated with senility.
Published – 19 October 2025 20:35 IST
