Tigers of Central India

[Pckts]

Vijayarajan Muthu

Dear Members,
Here is the official & authentic report on the unfortunate death of Male Tiger MP-KTR-T35, lovingly known to us as Kingfisher Male or Rajaram.
An adult male tiger was found dead on 28th Oct 2016 at 10.30 am during Elephant Patrol in Core Area of Kanha Tiger Reserve (compartment no. 29 of Gaidhar beat, Mukki Range). The carcass was 24 to 36 hours old. The procedure was done following SOP issued by NTCA in the presence of representative of NTCA and one independent witness. Prima facie this is a case of infighting. In post mortem also injuries and sub cutaneous haemorrhages were seen in the head, neck and thoracic region which might have resulted in death.
SOP issued by NTCA says that every Tiger death is to be treated as a poaching case unless proved otherwise. In this case, as soon as the Field Director received information about death of Tiger, he also asked the Dog Squad to start from Jabalpur, besides calling for Veterinarian and NTCA representative. As an independent witness, Mr Eric d Cunha was also present during the entire procedure (including Post Mortem). In the preliminary examination and post-mortem it was a clear case of infighting, samples were collected for forensic, histo-pathology n toxicology examination. As the dog squad was at their disposal (after the investigation of the entire site & post mortem), they were also used to search the adjoining villages as during Diwali festival there are chances of villagers getting involved in poaching for bush meat. This search operation had nothing to do with the tiger death. Since yesterday 5 elephants have been engaged for search in case any other Tiger is also injured.
Dear members, rest assured we shall keep the forum updated. May Kingfisher rest in peace. Reply