COIMBATORE: Despite fixing five camera traps at Mamaram on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam NH, where a tiger cub died after it was hit by a vehicle on Friday night, the movement of its mother has not been captured so far. Kotagiri forest department staff installed five cameras in the area as a precautionary measure fearing the adult tigress would be aggressive after losing her cub.
A senior forest department official said, “Besides fixing cameras, we have perambulated the area to find out the presence of the mother tiger. But we managed to lift pugmarks of the tigress since it has been raining in the last couple of days.”
“We have installed camera traps to check if the tigress has more cubs. We will continue to monitor the animal,” he added.
Since a tiger getting killed in a hit-and-run incident is rare, officials have decided to install awareness boards warning motorists about tiger movement in the area.
“There is nothing suspicious in the death of the tiger cub, it is purely a vehicle hit. There is no internal bleeding or external injury on the carcass. Our staff inspected the area and interacted with the estate labourers, they too did not find any movement of tiger,” said the official. Samples of heart, kidney, etc. were sent to the Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation at Vandalur, a veterinary college in Theni, and the Regional Forensic Science Lab in Coimbatore for analysis.