Bones of animals have been found from two places during digging in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve.
“A few bones and a jaw has been found from two places in Panna Tiger Reserve during digging for carrying out some developmental work,” Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Sartaj Singh told PTI on Monday.
He said initially it appears that the bones were of a bear and added it would be too early to comment that the jaw was of a tiger.
“The bones and the jaw have been sent to forensic laboratory for tests,” Mr. Singh said.
He denied reports of huge quantities of tiger jaws being found, and said only one was unearthed.
The Panna Tiger Reserve, spread over an area 543 sq kms in Panna and Chhattarpur district situated in eastern Madhya Pradesh, had become devoid of big cats last year, after which two felines and a tiger were translocated there to revive the population of the animal.
The state government has set up a committee of experts to probe into the disappearance of tigers from the Panna tiger reserve, which four to five years back had around 35 big cats.