A tigress was found dead in the Hediyala range of Bandipur National Park on Saturday.
The animal was eight years old and had wounds all over the body, attributed to infighting. The park director and Conservator of Forests, Heeralal, said there was no evidence of foul play; the claws and the skin were intact, while there were grievous injury marks on the body.
The carcass was burnt after the autopsy per the NTCA guidelines, he said. This is the eighth tiger to die in the Bandipur-Nagarahole belt since January this year, of which six have died in Nagarahole and two in Bandipur.
However, Mr. Heeralal said it was a natural incident in the wild and there was a surge between November and February which is winter and also coincides with the mating season of animals. “So apart from territorial fights there are such incidents for mating too and our records show a spike in tiger deaths during this season,” he added. There have been 13 tiger deaths across the country since January this year as per the NTCA statistics of which eight were reported from Karnataka, all from Bandipur-Nagarahole belt.
