Another tiger found dead in Bhadra reserve; 15 in 5 months

BENGALURU/CHIKKAMAGALURU:One more tiger death has been reported in Bhadra Tiger Reserve, taking the number of tiger deaths in Karnataka to 15 in the last five months.

The carcass of an adult male tiger was found by a forest patrolling party on Thursday evening in Hebbe Range of this reserve.

On May 19, the carcass of a male tiger was found in the same range that had died reportedly of serious injuries resulting from a fight with another tiger.

Now, with the discovery of the very highly decomposed body of the tiger at Hebbe range, beat forest officials said this must be the tiger that was involved in a fight with the one that was found dead on May 19.

The autopsy was conducted on Friday morning and later it was cremated as per NTCA protocol in the presence of forest officials, doctors and wildlife organisations.

The autopsy has revealed that it was a 8-9-year-old male tiger. It had a broken right leg, severe injuries on stomach and neck. Further, with a lot of injury marks visible in different parts of the body, forest officials say it is clear that this tiger was involved in a fight with another tiger. However, all body parts were intact albeit highly decomposed, ruling out any foul play.

Bhadra DCFO Narayana Swamy and RFO Raveendra had visited the spot on Thursday . On Friday, vet Vinay conducted the mahazar.

Wildlife activist G Veeresh who was present during the autopsy, said, “Territorial fight between two tigers usually happens for establishing their home territory. Territorial fights among big carnivores are a natural phenomenon and it is a good sign as we can know the tiger numbers. It must be good in this tiger reserve. Further, this animal was involved in a fight with another tiger whose body was found last month. Both tigers — big, healthy and strong — must have died at the same time. Only the carcass of this tiger was found late.”