Bigcats News

[Jeffrey]

Karnataka : Buoyed by the success of its conservation programmes, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) was in shock on Thursday when officials discovered carcasses of two tigers and an elephant in Bandipur tiger reserve. At a time when the entire department is busy estimating the number of tigers, the mysterious death of two adult tigers and an elephant has sent shockwaves and the entire department has been put on high alert.

Sources in KFD told Bangalore Mirror that carcass of a 3-year-old male tiger and 2-year-old-tigress was found near Hirikere water hole in Somanathapura within the range of the famous Gopalaswamy Betta on Thursday. In a release, Ambadi Madhav, Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, said that the department staffers found the carcasses on Thursday morning and they are yet to ascertain the actual cause of death.

According to sources in Bandipur, while the carcass of a male tiger was almost decomposed, another carcass was partially decomposed.

“At the outset, tigers appeared to be poisoned. However, some KFD officials suspecting it could also due to internal fights. Samples have been sent to forensic and veterinary lab for DNA testing,” said a senior KFD officer.

Field staffers of KFD revealed that last year too there were cases of tigers being poisoned by miscreants in retaliation of a ban on cattle grazing and tigers killing livestock in the villages abutting the national park. Soon after the post-mortem by certified veterinarians, the caracass of the animals were burnt as per the guidelines of National Tiger Conservatory Authority (NTCA).

Bandipur, known for dense deciduous forest, has the largest concentration of tigers in the country. The park has more than 100 tigers, besides the presence of Asiatic elephants. The department has been conducting tiger estimation for the year 2018 for the last one week and sudden death of two tigers has triggered panic among conservationists. Reply

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