A tigress was found dead in a coffee plantation of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation adjacent to the Chethalyath Forest Range under the South Wayanad Forest Division on Friday morning.
The animal had created panic among the people of Paplassery village in the past few days after it had killed a domestic animal there. It was spotted in a critical condition in the plantation on Thursday night.
South Wayanad Forest Divisional Officer P. Dhaneshkumar said the tigress was about nine years old. An autopsy was conducted by a team a team of government surgeons led by V.I. Gigimon and Arun Zachariah, in the presence of Pramod B. Balakrishnan, Chief Conservator of Forest, Palakkad Wildlife Circle, and Arul Badusha, a conservationist from the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The animal had suffered a deep wound on its left shoulder and its left forelimb was dislocated. There were also several small injuries on its body. These indicated that the big cat was in a critical state after it had fought with a wild boar or a tiger, Mr. Dhaneshkumar said.
The carcass was consigned to fire at the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
