Canine distemper virus (CDV) and Mycoplasma spp. bacteria have been blamed for the deaths of over a dozen captive tigers at the Tiger Kingdom in Mae Rim district of Chiang Mai, according to the Livestock Development Department.
The CDV and the bacteria seriously affect the respiratory and digestive systems of infected tigers, resulting in severe lung infections and their eventual death, said the department, adding that the disease cannot be transmitted from animals to humans.
The department has ordered the Tiger Kingdom to be closed to the public and the media for 14 days to allow officials to disinfect the area.
An executive of the tiger facility told a Thai PBS reporter in Chiang Mai that the facility has been closed after several tigers were found to be sick and dying, adding that the remaining healthy tigers have been relocated to the rehabilitation centre in Mae Taeng district, about 30km away.
The Tiger Kingdom in Mae Rim district is home to hundreds of tigers of various and inbred species, including white Siberian tigers.
The Department of Disease Control said today that none of the 108 veterinarians, or other staff working in the tiger enclosures in Mae Rim and Mae Taeng district have fallen ill from CDV infection. They have, nonetheless, been placed under observation for 21 days to ensure that they are safe.
Conservationist groups maintain that inbreeding tigers produces unhealthy animals. They suffer from a wide range of significant health problems. Common issues include spinal deformities, defective organs and immune deficiencies.
The white tiger is the result of a rare genetic mutation and the most efficient way to breed them is by using two tigers with the recessive genes needed to produce offspring with a white coat.
