The vehicle which knocked down and killed a tiger near the Mysuru airport on Sunday night. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
A one-and-a-half-year-old male tiger was killed when it was knocked down and run over by a car on the Mysuru-Nanjangud highway close to the Mysuru airport late on January 28 night.
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Dr. Basavaraj, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Territorial) said the accident took place around 11 p.m. on January 28. The tiger belonged to a litter of four cubs that used to be sighted with their mother near Nanjangud a few months ago for which combing operations were being carried out.
Dr. Basavraj said the four cubs were christened as T6, T7, T8 and T9 and all of them were last sighted with their mother in the first week of November 2023.
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Subsequently, they began to disperse and the whereabouts of T6 and T8 were not known while T7 and T9 were sighted near the TVS Factory and efforts were on to track and nudge them towards the nearest forests.
The tiger killed in the road accident on January 29 was identified as T6, a male, said Dr. Basavaraj.
Though the area around the Mysuru Airport at Mandakalli is surrounded by a vast swathe of agricultural fields, it is an unlikely habitat for tigers to survive. But forest department officials speculate that the tiger may have survived hunting wild boars which are aplenty in the region. Though pug marks were discovered a few days ago and a combing operation was launched the tiger could not be sighted.
Malathi Priya, Chief Conservator of Forests, Mysuru Circle, said the vehicle has been seized and a case would be registered against the driver.