Eighteen-year-old Shankari had undergone an operation on July 21 this year by a team of specialist veterinarians from Dhaka, who removed a one kg tumour from her body. But the tigress had developed inflammation after the surgery, leading to her death.

A stink pervaded the zoo sending visitors covering their noses with hankies, as the carcass was not removed from the cage until yesterday afternoon.

Zoo officials could not say the precise time of Shankari's death. Belal Hossain, an animal caretaker, went to the cage at around 7:00am for a clean-up and found her dead.

Experts of the Veterinary College collected infected tissue from her body and sent it to the Central Disease Investigation Laboratory in Dhaka and Mymensingh Agriculture University for tests that confirmed her disease as carcinoma.

Veterinary College Principal Dr Nitish Chandra Devnath said, "We informed the deputy commissioner of Chittagong last week in a letter about Shankari's disease."

Shankari was brought to Chittagong Zoo on September 27, 1992 as a donation from Dhaka Zoo. Her death left her mate, Bhim, alone.

Vets from Chittagong Veterinary College, Dr Farhad Hossain, Dr Masuduzzaman and Dr Mizanur Rahman, carried out an autopsy upon an order from district administration officials who visited the zoo.