BHOPAL: Kanha National Park’s T-17, popularly known as Munna, on whose forehead, of course, CAT was written with the unique stripe pattern, died of old age on Sunday. Munna was relocated from Mandla to Van Vihar National Park on October 24, 2019.
Munna, around 21 years old, stopped eating on March 2nd. The big cat was unable to move after paralyzing its limbs about a year ago. Van Vihar’s veterinary staff paid special attention to this. The veterinarian Atul Gupta and a team of other veterinarians were assigned to take special care and monitor Munna’s health. Munna’s remains were thrown into the flames on Sunday in the presence of forest officials and staff who looked after him.
Forest officials from the Kanha Tiger Reserve also lamented the death of T-17. They say the great CAT remained one of the main attractions for visitors. It used to respond to calls from the forest rangers. It used to appear quite often in front of visitors.
“The stripes, CAT, on his forehead made all the prominent wildlife photographers at Kanha Tiger Reserve put them on their camera lenses,” said one of the forest rangers from Kanha National Park.