KURNOOL: A tigress, aged around 3, was found dead under suspicious circumstances near Gandlaleru reservoir under Chelama forest range of Nandyal division in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NTSR) on Wednesday.
Forest officials said the carcass could be six days old. A probe has been launched to ascertain the cause of its death.
Incidentally, this is the second death in three months. Another tigress, aged around 20 months, was found dead on the railway tracks at the Chalama first tunnel in Nandyal division in November.
Conservator of Forests P Rama Krishna said the tigress had been captured on camera traps in December, it looked hale and healthy.
"We are conducting a post-mortem and only then could we confirm when it had a natural death or was killed by poachers," he added.
Meanwhile, local residents expressed suspicion that the big cat might have been poisoned.
The NSTR is spread in 5,937 km out of which 3,737 km is in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The Nallamala forest is spread over Kurnool, Gunter and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh and Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts in Telangana.
The core area of tiger is 2,444 km.