The death of a tiger in the Kundagere range of Bandipur within days of the national park being regarded as one of the best protected landscape for the big cats, has triggered alarm bells among the authorities.
The tiger’s death came to light on Saturday and the post-mortem report conducted on Sunday was inconclusive, as the cause of the death is not clear. However, sources said it was a case of suspected poisoning though only laboratory analysis of the viscera could conclusively indicate whether the tiger died of poisoning or any other cause.
H.C. Kantharaj, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that the tiger was a male and seven years old, and it was found dead at Kyathanabore in the Kundagere range. The claws, skin and other parts of the tiger were intact.
Dr. Nagaraj, veterinarian, who conducted the post-mortem suspected that the tiger had apparently died about three days ago and decomposition had started to set in. The lungs were liquefied, but there was partially digested meat in its stomach the samples of which had been collected and sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Bengaluru. Sources said the claws and skin were intact and hence poaching could be ruled out. There were no external injury marks on the tiger as well and hence death due territorial fights too has been ruled out. Since there was partially digested meat in its stomach, there was a strong possibility of death due to poisoning but this is yet to be confirmed by laboratory results, they added. Mr. Kantharaj admitted that there was a possibility of poisoning as other causes had been ruled out but preferred to wait for the laboratory result to confirm the theory. There have been incidents of the local community poisoning the carcass of the domestic cattle stalked and killed by predators.
The tiger was a male and seven years old
