COIMBATORE: A postmortem carried out on a five-month-old male tiger cub on Friday revealed that the animal had died due to a vehicle hit at Kotagiri forest range in Nilgiris district. After postmortem, the animal was burned as per NTCA guidelines.
The animal was found dead in the middle of the road at Mamaram on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam national highway on Thursday around 9.15pm.
Subsequently, forest department staff and the police conducted a vehicle check but were unable to find the vehicle.
Based on Nilgiris DFO S Gowtham’s instructions, the carcass was shifted near the Longwood rest house, where Veterinary Assistant Surgeons K Rajesh of Theppakkadu and Revathy of Kakuchi performed a postmortem.
During the postmortem, it was found that due to the impact of the vehicle hitting, the cub had five broken ribs.
Forest officials suspect that the animal could have come from the nearby Thattapallam reserve forest which is 2km away from Mamaram.
According to Kotagiri Forest Range Officer S Selvaraj, “We strongly suspect the animal was killed after being hit by a car, and it could have occurred when the cub, along with its mother, was crossing the road. We have interacted with the estate labourers and they have noticed a roaring sound, and it could be probably the mother tiger. As a result, we have fixed five CCTV cameras to monitor the mother tiger's movement.
“The mother could be aggressive following the loss of her young cub. Despite interacting with a large number of vehicle owners, we did not get a clue about the vehicle owner who killed the tiger cub by hitting the vehicle. We have also perambulated the tea and coffee estate for a 500-meter radius of the place in which the animal was found dead, and we have not lifted any other suspicious materials,” he said.
The Kotagiri forest range has registered a case under Section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.