MYSURU: Two young tigers and one elephant were found dead at GS Betta Forest Range limits in Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Thursday.
The two wild cats – one male and the another female — were found dead near a lake, and a few metres away a female elephant was found dead. According to forest officials, the tigers aged between two and three years might have died four days ago and the elephant aged around 25 years might have died one week ago.
A senior forest officer said, “We suspect the tigers and elephant may have died due to consumption of poisonous substances. At this stage we don’t don’t even know how the wild animals have consumed the poisonous substances.”
Veterinary doctor D N Nagaraju, who conducted the postmortem of the tigers, told Express on Thursday, “When we found the bodies of these animals, they were rotten. Some wild animals have eaten most of the flesh from the tigers’ bodies as also from that of the elephant.” December to February is the mating season for tigers and during this season tigers fight with each other to mark their territories in the jungle. The bodies of the tigers were so rotten that it was difficult to find injuries on them, he said.
Nagaraju said the tigers’ organs, and the rotten food found in their stomachs will be sent to the forensic lab in Mysuru and to the National Centre for Biological Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru.
DEATH count
A tigress found dead at Moolhole after a fight on
Dec 25, 2017
Prince, tourists’ favourite, died in April 2017
Since April 2017, four tigers died