White tiger Sameer dies of age-related ailments in Tirupati zoo

White tiger ‘Sameer’, a crowd favourite for fourteen years at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP) in Tirupati, died early Sunday (October 19, 2025) due to age-related ailments.

The big cat, around 19-year-old, was brought from Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad of Telangana as a five-year-old cub in 2011. After its mobility was curtailed due to age-related issues, the tiger was not presented for public viewing in the zoo for over a year and was confined to its night house. Sameer was under intensive care for an extended period due to complications.

With loss of appetite for solid food, the big cat was sustained on liquid diet for the last three months. The zoo’s veterinary team, which monitored its health condition throughout this period, observed that it had stopped consuming even liquid feed.

The post-mortem by a team from Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University’s (SVVU) pathology department concluded the cause of death as hydro nephrosis, a kidney condition, compounded by senility.