Mesker Park Zoo is mourning the untimely death of Luna the tiger. WNIN’s John Gibson has the story:
Zoo officials say the three-year-old Sumatran tiger died despite intense efforts to save her.
They say Luna had a foreign body in her esophagus that caused a rupture.
The foreign body was believed to be cartilage from a knuckle bone, a normal component of her diet -- and tigers across the U.S.
An initial surgery failed to improve her condition and she was taken to an out-of-town facility for a CT Scan.
Zoo officials say Luna died unexpectedly before the scan and efforts to save her – including emergency medications and several rounds of CPR – failed to resuscitate her.
Mesker says its veterinarian and animal care staff did heroic work, calling it a “rare and devastating situation.”
The zoo says it’s working with a Sumatran Tiger Species Survival Program to identify placement of a new tiger in the near future.