A staff member of the Okinawa Zoo Park found Shima, the Bengal tiger in the zoo, dead in his enclosure in the morning of Mar. 22.

Shima was a male Bengal tiger, and died at the age of 19 years and 10 months. According to Okinawa Zoo staff Shima had been ill lately, and had refused to eat for the last two weeks.

Genwa Higa, the curator at the Okinawa Zoo Park expressed regrets, and said “We tried to feed him offering various kinds of food, but he refused to eat anything.”

According to Higa, a tiger usually lives to be 15 to 20 years old. “We wanted him to live at least to 20 years old, and tried to do our best to keep him healthy, but at the end he could not.”

The zoo has no tiger after Shima’s death, and Higa said “A tiger is one of the most popular animals among our visitors. We will try to welcome another tiger one day.”

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