NILGIRIS: An ailing tiger that was injured in one of the legs and spotted inside a private tea estate since Saturday in Porithiyada village near Manjoor in Ooty, was found dead on Monday afternoon. Postmortem examination of the carcass revealed that the male tiger, aged seven to eight years, succumbed to injuries sustained during a fight with another tiger.
The staff who were monitoring the tiger, for the third consecutive day on Monday, noticed that movements ceased in the afternoon. After they approached the animal, they confirmed its death.
The postmortem was carried out by a team of three veterinarians led by K Rajesh Kumar, in the presence of members of an NGO, the village head and Nilgiris District Forest Officer (DFO) S Gowtham.
“We have confirmed that the tiger died due to infighting, since the deceased animal had severe injuries on both its front legs, and in fact the left leg was fractured. It was unable to hunt prey. We have also lifted samples of vital organs and will be sending it for analysis to ascertain the exact cause of death,” a senior forest official said.
Forest officials confirmed they had not engaged in treating the animal, as the incident did not fall under wildlife management. After postmortem, the animal was cremated as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) rules.