Byculla Zoo’s nine-year-old Royal Bengal tiger Shakti died on November 17, 2025. Shakti and his mate Karishma were brought to the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Garden and Zoo from the Siddhartha Garden and Zoo, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, on February 12, 2020. In a statement issued Wednesday, the BMC said Shakti died due to respiratory failure caused by pneumonia, dismissing social media claims that a bone had gotten stuck in his respiratory tract while feeding.

Zoo officials said Shakti refused food on November 15 and was kept under veterinary observation. He was administered medicines through water. On November 16, he ate chicken and water but later regurgitated it. On November 17, while being taken into a cage for a health check-up, the tiger suffered a sudden convulsion and died at 12.15 pm. “Shakti had no previous symptoms of illness,” the statement said.