Two adult tigers were found dead in Gudalur and at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Thursday and Friday respectively.
In the first incident, a male tiger, believed to be around 10 years old, was found dead in Padanthorai beat in the Gudalur range and forest division on Thursday.
Carcass retrieved
Forest Department staff, led by ranger G. Ramakrishnan, retrieved the carcass and brought it back to the office of the District Forest Officer, Gudalur Division, where a post-mortem was to be performed.
However, due to the lack of a forest veterinarian in the Nilgiris, the department officials had to wait for a team of doctors to arrive from Kerala to perform the post-mortem on Friday evening.
The officials said the animal seemed to have suffered a wound to one of its rear legs, possibly from a fight with another animal, but added that there were no signs suggesting that the death was due to unnatural causes.
Samples
“We have retrieved samples of the animal’s visceral organs and have sent it for analysis to rule out any chances that the animal was poisoned,” an official from the Forest Department added.
After the completion of the post-mortem, the carcass was burned and destroyed, as per National Tiger Conservation Authority guidelines.
In another incident, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve officials confirmed that the carcass of another male tiger was found near the Abhayaranyam guest house in the Kargudi Forest Range on Friday afternoon.
Post-mortem
Officials said that a post-mortem would be conducted on the carcass on Saturday.
