The oldest lioness of the country ‘Rehana’ died in the intervening night of March 21, 22 at Van Vihar National Park. The lioness Rehana was consigned to Van Vihar from Indore zoo at the age of four on February 12 1992. The lioness, which had been suffering from old age related diseases for quite some time, was being administered life support medicines. Rehana was being given anti-biotic, anti-oxidants and tonic. Due to old age, her digestion system had become weak resulting in deterioration of health rapidly and she breathed her last.Van Vihar National Park Wildlife specialist Dr. Atul Gupta and Wildlife S.O.S specialist Dr. Kajal Jadhav performed postmortem upon the carcass of lioness. Preliminary autopsy report cited the cause of death, due to old age. Organ samples of lioness are being sent for analysis to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal. After performing postmortem, the body of Rehana was cremated.
Van Vihar management has named Rehana to one of the electric golf carts to keep her memory alive.
