Staff correspondent, NewsCrunch
Video has emerged from India of Bengal tigers attacking and injuring a white tiger at a biological park.
The white tiger succumbed to its injuries later.
In video shot by a visitor, filmed on Sunday (September 17), two Bengal tigers can be seen mauling the helpless white animal. A third Bengal tiger can also be seen in the video.
In total, three Bengal tigers attacked and injured two white tigers in the incident at the park.
The two white tigers had accidentally walked into a separate enclosure where the Bengal tigers were kept at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP).
A fight immediately broke out between the two groups, with the Bengal tigers particularly targeting the weaker of the intruder before a group of shocked visitors.
The park officials struggled to separate the tigers and restore peace.
Santosh Kumar, executive director of the park, said the white tigers may have stepped out of the enclosure when the staff opened the gates to let safari buses out. The big cats managed to walk along safari buses without drawing attention.
The lapse came to officials’ notice only when a fight broke out among the animals.
Santosh said: "Our staffers are careful while operating gates. But as Sunday was a busy day and three vehicles had lined up, they may have failed to notice the tigers stepping out."
Last month, a zebra had died after falling into a ditch dug by BBP staffers to erect a pole in an enclosure.