BHOPAL: A young adult male tiger was found dead in a well in south-eastern Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district on Sunday afternoon, taking the total tiger deaths in the state to 24 so far this year.
The tiger, believed to be aged between four and five years, was discovered in a well in Chargaon (Pipardahi) village in the Lakhanwada area of the Seoni Forest Division, around 10–12 km from the buffer zone of the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR).
According to a senior wildlife wing official at the Madhya Pradesh State Forest Department headquarters in Bhopal, “A preliminary probe suggests that the tiger may have been electrocuted first and the carcass later dumped in the well.”
Informed sources indicated that, as all body parts of the tiger were intact and injury marks suggest electrocution, the animal may have strayed into an agricultural field where an electric trap had been laid to prevent the entry of wild animals such as wild boar. The tiger may have chased prey into the field and been electrocuted. The body was then likely dumped into the well to make the death appear accidental.
Significantly, after deaths caused by territorial fights among tigers amid a rising population and shrinking forest habitat, electrocution is the second leading cause of tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh.
“While the preliminary probe points to electrocution as the cause of death, a detailed necropsy will establish the facts. Our veterinary and forensic teams are on site investigating the incident in Seoni district,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) L. Krishnamoorthy told TNIE on Monday.
Early findings suggest that the tiger, whose carcass was found on Sunday afternoon, may have strayed from the adjoining Pench Tiger Reserve while searching for new territory due to increasing population pressure within the reserve.
This is the 24th tiger death reported this year, with the first recorded on 7 January.
Recently, a tigress reportedly lost two of her cubs within three days due to starvation in the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Separate incidents also saw one tiger each found dead in the Panna Tiger Reserve and in Balaghat district.
The 24 tiger deaths recorded in the first four months of this year are the highest for the same period in the past four years. In comparison, 16 deaths were reported between January and April in 2023, followed by 17 in 2024 and 19 in 2025. Notably, 2025 saw a total of 56 tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh—the highest annual toll since the launch of Project Tiger in 1973.
According to the 2022 Tiger Status Report, Madhya Pradesh, with a population of 785 tigers, has the highest number of tigers in India and is known as the country’s “Tiger State”.
