Rare white tiger dies from snake bite in zoo

A rare white tiger was killed by a highly venomous black cobra at the Kamala Nehru zoo in Indore on December 27th.

The tiger, named Rajjan, was just three years old, the Hindustan Times reports. He was found dead inside the cage at the Kamala Nehru zoo. "Though doctors were rushed in, he was declared dead. Postmortem has confirmed the tiger died due to snake bite," the article notes.

Uttam Yadav, the zoo's director said, "It appears that the tiger had a fight with the snake and died after the snake bit the big cat."

"We found an injured cobra inside of the tiger's cage," Yadav continued. "When we checked on the tiger it was unconscious. I assume the tiger and cobra had [a] fight in which the cobra would have bitten and killed the tiger."

This is particularly tragic since white tigers are incredibly rare. Their coloration is dependent on a defective recessive gene that is passed on from their parents.

Rajjan was brought to the zoo just a month ago, the Hindustan Times notes.

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