Mystery shrouds the death of two tigers and an elephant within 100 metres of a water body in Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Thursday, sending alarm bells ringing among conservationists and Forest Department staff.
While the immediate cause is yet to be confirmed, authorities have not ruled out poisoning. The carcasses of the animals were found close to Hirekere water body in the Himavad Gopalswamy Betta range of the tiger reserve.
The Conservator of Forests and Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve Ambadi Madhav said post-mortem was conducted and the samples of the viscera of the two tigers - a male and a female - will be sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biological, Bengaluru, for analysis to ascertain the exact cause of death.
However, other senior officials said prima facie it seems that the water body may have been poisoned and the elephant could have been the first victim and the tigers which fed on the elephant carcass may have succumbed later.
Bandipur is among the best landscape for tigers and harbours nearly 110 to 130 tigers besides a rich density of elephants. But the national park is also surrounded by nearly 150 villages and hence conflicts are also high.
In the past there have been a couple of incidents of tigers being poisoned in retaliation for the cattle kills. Authorities are yet to ascertain if any village in the vicinity had reported cattle kills in the recent past.
Last year, as many as four tiger deaths were reported from Bandipur and 11 tigers died in the adjoining Nagarahole.
