NILGIRIS: A 12-year-old tigress, which had been sick and roaming near the forest boundary in the Singara forest range of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) died on Sunday.
After a video of the sick tigress went viral on social media, a team of forest staff began monitoring the animal on August 19 to prevent any conflict with humans or livestock.
According to sources, the tigress was old and had lost its teeth, making it unable to hunt on its own. It had resorted to eating chicken waste that had been dumped by traders in a nearby abandoned quarry owned by the revenue department.
“We began monitoring the animal’s movement around the clock since it was spotted near the forest boundary to prevent it from catching easy prey like cows or goats,” a forest department official said. The tigress fell ill on Sunday afternoon and died in the evening. A post-mortem has been scheduled for Monday morning.