NILGIRIS: An adult and a sub-adult tiger were found dead at the Sussex Estate in Bitherkad forest range in Gudalur on Tuesday. Postmortem examination revealed they had consumed a wild boar that had been poisoned. Sources in the forest department said its staff spotted the carcass of the sub-adult tiger in the pathway of the tea estate.
The animal had external bleeding injuries. Following National Tiger Conservation Authority guidelines, the staff perambulated a 500m radius area and found an adult tiger, believed to be the mother, dead in a swampy marsh.
The team also noticed the carcass of a wild boar within 200m. “The big cats had consumed a portion of the wild boar. During postmortem, veterinarians found wild boar flesh in their stomachs.
As per the statement given by veterinarians, both tigers may have died due to poisoning. This may have happened after the tigers ate poisoned wild boar. The bleeding injuries may have been caused when they fought over the prey,” said Gudalur Forest Division DFO Venkatesh Prabhu
“The veterinarians also observed samples of rice and tapioca from the stomach of the tigers, which may have been consumed by the wild boar,” he added.
D Venkatesh, field director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), said “The sub-adult tiger could have died on Monday evening, and the adult on Tuesday morning. The colour of the internal organs has changed drastically, indicating poisoning. The tigers died one after another since they had taken secondary poison, that is from the wild boar.”
A case has been registered, and two special teams were formed to probe the incident.