BHOPAL: A 17-year-old tigress died possibly due to age-related problems at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday-Thursday intervening night.
This was the fourth casualty of the big cat in last ten days in the state, which was adjudged on July 29 as India’s ‘Tiger State’ with an estimated tiger population of 526, two more than Karnataka.
The 17-year-old tigress, which was rescued by the reserve officers in injured condition in March this year from inside the reserve, breathed her last on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The big cat which gave birth to several cubs in the past was found with multiple injuries near a pond in Khetauli range in March this year, a BTR officer said.
The tigress was kept at the Bathan camp in Tala range of the BTR, but despite efforts of veterinary doctors, its condition worsened in last few days, making the elderly tigress virtually immobile during last two days.
The aged tigress finally died at around 1.30 am on Wednesday-Thursday intervening night.
This is fourth tiger mortality in the reserve as a tigress and her cub were killed in an assault by fellow male on July 28 evening, while another cub was killed two days later in reserve’s buffer zone.