According to PMC's garden superintendent Yashwant Khaire, the white peahen is suspected to have succumbed to the Ranikhet disease. No other inmate of the zoo is showing symptoms of the disease, he added.

Khaire said the white peahen was ailing for a year now. It was isolated and given antibiotics doses during the treatment which begun afterit was noticed that the bird was unable to balance its neck and standon feet.

The peahen was returned to the cage after it showed partial recovery. The veterinary doctors isolated the bird again and gave oral and indictable doses of antibiotics as it relapsed a month back.

The officials from the Aundh-based Disease Investigation Society performed a post-mortem on the peahen last morning. They have submitted a preliminary report saying the peahen might have died due to Ranikhet disease, according to Khaire.

PMC's Peshwe Park and Rajiv Gandhi Zoo at Katraj have been witness to the deaths of five inmates within a year. A female elephant died shortly after being shifted from Peshwe Park to Rajiv Gandhi Zoo in June. Within a fortnight after that, Peshwe Park saw the death of a Royal Bengal Tiger, followed by the deaths of a Black Buck at Peshwe Park and the loss of a Barking Deer at Rajiv Gandhi zoo.

The deaths have once again brought into the focus the issue of inadequate staff to take medical care of about 300 animals in the custody of the civic body. Recruitment of Kazrin Umrigar was made as PMC's deputy zoo superintendent to fill up one of the two posts of veterinary doctors with the PMC, which was lying vacant for over a year.

The civic administration also consulted the experts and wildlife lovers inviting suggestions about the future well-being of the zoo inmates. On July 23, Additional Municipal Commissioner Deepak Kapoor held a meeting of NGOs and took several on-the-spot decisions including banning polythene bags inside the Peshwe Park zoo and launching crackdown on littering. He also formed an apex committee of NGOs to review the zoos' functioning.