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India’s oldest tigress, identified for birthing dozens of cubs and credited with reviving a barren Sariska tiger reserve within the western state of Rajasthan, died aged 19 after succumbing to accidents and sickness.

Known as Rajmata, or the king’s mom, and marked as ST-2 at the Sariska Tiger Reserve, the favored tigress died on Tuesday night in an enclosure the place she was stored for 3 months for medical therapy, district forest officer DP Jagawat stated.

Wildlife docs monitoring her declared the 19-year-old tigress dead after no motion was noticed throughout a checkup, officers stated, confirming she succumbed to her accidents on her tail. She was stored in an enclosure for round 113 days, proscribing her motion within the wild.

The daughter of the world’s most photographed tigress Machli from Ranthambore, ST-2 was the second tigress to enter the Sariska Tiger Reserve in India’s repopulation try of the park which saw a full extinction of its big cats as a result of a lethal poaching racket. After struggling an damage, she was being monitored by a committee of docs.

“She was declared useless in her enclosure at 5pm. After no motion was recorded since morning, a staff of officers entered the enclosure and checked her totally to search out out she was no extra. The autopsy will likely be performed by the medical board on Wednesday,” according to an official statement released by the reserve.

India’s Sariska National Park has had a troubled history of preserving its tiger population in the face of a notorious local challenge of poachers who trap the animals and use their body parts for illegal sale. In 2004, officials combed every swathe of the park but could not find even a single tiger and confirmed that poaching had eliminated all the big cats in the region.

Sariska earned the unwelcome accolade of being the only tiger reserve since India’s independence not to have any tigers and building the population back up has been a huge undertaking.

Indian officials relied on reintroduction of mating adults from Ranthambore and other more abundant reserves to give Sariska a fresh breath of life.

ST-2 was the first tigress they shifted to Sariska on 4 July in 2008 from neighbouring Ranthambore national park, giving the reserve a new lease of life. She gave birth to 25 out of the 30 cubs born in the park, including some of the legendary tigers to have walked Sariska, including ST-7, ST-8, ST-13 and ST-14.

She additionally went on to dwell until 19 years of age, a uncommon occurence amongst tigers inhabitants who’ve a median life span of 14 to fifteen years.