Fifteen-year-old Raja, a leopard who was brought to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) when he was just a cub, died at 2am on Sunday night. According to SGNP officials, he was healthy, active and not suffering from any ailments.

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Raja is the second big cat to have died in SGNP in the last fortnight, and the fifth this year, said Shailesh Deore, superintendent of the lion and tiger safari. On October 12, lioness Shobha died after battling gynaecological ailments. At the time of Raja's death, the park's veterinary officer, Dr Sanjiv Pinjarkar, was on leave. Four other leopards have died in 2014 in till date.When he was just a month old, Raja was brought to the park with his sister Krishna, who is still alive, from Ratnagiri where they were found without their mother. Since then, he was raised by SGNP staff and spent the rest of his life in captivity.

"Raja was healthy and quite active. Since Dr Pinjarkar was on leave, Dr Manish Pingle, a private vet, took a look at him. The cause of his death will only be clear once the post-mortem reports have been declared. Out in the wild, leopards live to an age of 15 years, while in captivity, they can reach 20," said Vikas Gupta, director and chief conservator of forests, SGNP.

SGNP staff are now trying to make a conscious effort to release rescued leopards back into the wild. "Ideally, leopards should be treated for injuries, if present, and released within 10 to 15 days. If kept for too long, they can become too attached to humans, and then may try to return to human settlements if set free. However, some cats are brought to us with broken claws and teeth, making it impossible for them to survive in the wild. Raja too was an orphan cub when he was brought in. So we had to keep him in the park's rescue centre as he could not fend for himself," said Gupta.