HUBBALLI: For many years there has been a debate over the presence of tigers in Tumakuru district, but the speculation was put to an end on Tuesday after the carcass of a male tiger, aged about six years, was found in the district. The tiger was found dead in an empty water pipeline on the road located in Ankasandra Reserve Forest in Gubbi taluk of Tumakuru.
The villagers, who found the tiger in the pipe, alerted the forest officials. A detailed postmortem and combing operation to search for pugmarks and scats was taken up in the area to ascertain any signs of other big cats. On Tuesday evening, the tiger carcass was burnt and organ samples were sent to the laboratory. Senior forest officials said that the cause of the death can be ascertained only after the postmortem report.
The tiger carcass has baffled the wildlife experts and forest officials who are trying to trace its journey to Tumakuru. Wildlife experts feel that the tiger may have strayed out from either Bhadra Tiger Reserve, which is 132 km away, or the Bannerghatta National Park near Bengaluru, which is about 136 km from the site where the carcass was found.
There have been no tiger sightings in Tumakuru for many years. Though there have been cases of tiger sightings in some parts, there were no photographic or video evidence. In 2006, during the national tiger census, tiger pugmarks were found in Devarayanadurga forest in Tumakuru. B V Gundappa, a wildlife conservationist from Tumakuru, said there have been a number of tiger sightings in Tumakuru in the past. “Retired forest official Dr U V Singh was the first to sight tigers in Tumakuru in 1997.
After that there were a number of sightings by villagers, passengers and forest officials. But there were no photo documents to prove the presence of tigers. Now the tiger has been found dead near a reserve forest in Tumakuru. The camera trapping experiment should be extended to the forest areas of Tumakuru to record wildlife activity,” he said.