Big cat news in brief
Sixteen-year-old snow leopard Natasha died of glandular cancer at the Roanoke Zoo, USA.
A district court in Khatima, Uttarakhand state, India, sentenced the notorious tiger poacher Birbal, also known as Tota Ram, to three years in a high-security prison and a fine of 10 thousand rupees after a four-meter tiger skin was confiscated from him in August 2004.
Twenty-year-old black leopardess Kalika was put down after unsuccessful treatment for kidney failure at the Fresno Zoo, USA.
The Born Free Foundation is concerned about the situation in British zoos, as the latest inspection of the leading Edinburgh Zoo revealed that the off-display enclosures where the big cats are kept were in an unsatisfactory condition.
A nine-year-old boy was killed by a tiger on the border of the Dudhwa reserve in India.