1College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, J.N.K.V.V., Jabalpur-482 001, India.
College of Forestry and Environment, Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Deemed University, Allahabad–211 007, India.
The present work was conducted in the year 2005–06 to study the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites and parasitic load in captive big cats (tiger, lion and leopard) in Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The freshly laid scat samples were collected and screened for gastrointestinal parasites by employing qualitative and quantitative estimation techniques. Out of 25 samples of captive felids (11 tiger, 8 lion and 6 leopard), 56% were positive for single or mixed parasitic infection. The prevalence of ascarids, strongyles and coccidia was 44.00%, 32.00% and 16.00%, respectively. The tigers harboured parasitic eggs of strongyles, Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina and oocysts of coccidia. Eggs of only Toxascaris leonina and oocysts of coccidia were seen in lions, whereas leopard showed strongyle, Toxocara cati and Toxascaris leonina eggs. Eggs/oocyst count in positive faecal samples showed maximum overall mean EPG for ascarids (522.22) followed by strongyles (440). The overall mean OPG was 1766.66.
Scat, infection, Egg per gram of faeces (EPG), Oocyst per gram of faeces (OPG)
