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Amidst the ongoing man-animal conflict near Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, forest officials found the carcass of a tigress from a canal in the eastern part of the reserve on Wednesday evening.

The carcass was sent to the Indian Institute of Veterinary Science (IVRI), Bareilly, for post-mortem examination.

“The carcass was seen floating in a canal by some villagers who reported it to the local forest guard. The body has no signs of external injury and it seems the tigress died a natural death,” conservator of forests VK Singh said.

Officials said the tigress was at least 10 years’ old and was fully mature.

Forest officials said the tigress was not from Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. “Prima facie it appears that the tigress was from Surai Range in Uttarakhand and its carcass reached here through the canal,” said Singh.

“We have recorded the stripe pattern of the tigress which is being matched with the tigers of Pilibhit reserve,” he added.

Though the post-mortem report is awaited, rumours started doing the rounds that angered villagers have killed the tigress. Forest officials, however, refuted the reports.

At least 15 people living near the tiger reserve have been killed in tiger attacks in the last 10 months. The incidents have pitched the residents against the officials of tiger reserve.

There are over 50 adult tigers in Pilibhit reserve. Six of these are said to be present in the area where most of the tiger attacks have occurred. The forest officials have categorically denied that the carcass was of one of these six tigers.

“The place where the carcass was found is almost 50 kilometres away from the place of recent tiger attacks. Both the places are not connected with any water body. So it doesn’t make sense to connect the attacks with the dead tigress,” said Singh.

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