BENGALURU: The death of two 10-day-old tiger cubs and the disappearance of their mother for the past two days in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), 227 km from Bengaluru, has alarmed the forest department and the conservation community.
On Monday, a forest foot-patrol team found a dead cub near Kirubanakallagudda in the Holemurdatti range of CWS. The following day, another cub was found dead a few metres away. The carcasses, a male and a female, were estimated to be at least three days old.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) PC Ray said postmortem examination revealed that the cubs died of starvation, likely after being abandoned by their mother. “So far, no foul play has been detected,” he said. Search teams have been deployed to trace the missing tigress, with camera trap images being collected and analysed.
Despite stringent rules, human presence inside the forests remains high, from tourists to locals and farmers grazing cattle. The incident occurred 8 km inside the forest boundary.
Department sources said they are yet to confirm the tigress’s identity from the database. While tiger pugmarks were found at different locations on Wednesday, it is yet to be determined if they belong to the same animal.
Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar B Khandre directed officials to submit a detailed report within five days, including any camera trap evidence.