Rare white tiger diagnosed with cancer dies at zoo

CINCINNATI — Officials say a rare white tiger has died at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Zoo officials said in a blog post on Thursday that the 21-year-old male tiger, named Akere, was recently diagnosed with non-treatable oral cancer. A zoo spokeswoman says the tiger was euthanized Wednesday.

The zoo says Akere was in renal failure and had severe arthritis in his hips. Officials say a care team provided supportive care and medication to ease the tiger’s pain, but it was clear that his quality of life was not going to improve.

The zoo says the tiger was the oldest of his kind in any accredited North American zoo. A tiger’s median life expectancy is 15 to 20 years.

Akere arrived in Cincinnati from Nashville in 1996 when he was just 9 months old.