‘Tourist-friendly’ tiger Pujari dies in territorial fight at Bandhavgarh, MP tiger toll reaches 33

Bhopal: ‘Pujari,’ a nine-year-old tiger of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve known for being tourist-friendly, died in an apparent territorial fight in the reserve on Monday morning. With this, the death toll of tigers in Madhya Pradesh’s different reserves this year has reached 33.

According to officials, security workers at Dhamdhama camp in the West Bagdari beat of Khitouli range under Bandhavgarh tiger reserve heard the sound of tigers fighting around 6.30 am on Monday.

Following the alert, a patrolling team carried out an intensive search in the Dhamdhama area and found a tiger dead in the forest. Senior forest officials who conducted a preliminary inspection from a distance suspected that the tiger died in a territorial fight.

Injury marks were found on the tiger’s body, while all body parts were found intact at the spot, ruling out poaching at first glance. The area was immediately cordoned off, and elephant patrol teams, dog squad and metal detector teams were pressed into service for further investigation.

Officials said all subsequent action was carried out as per the guidelines and SOP issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). A team of veterinarians later conducted an examination and postmortem of the carcass.

“It was a nine-year-old male tiger named Pujari. Pujari was known for his tourist-friendly and photo-friendly behaviour. The neck bone was fractured, and there were puncture marks. It is suspected that there was a fight between D1 and Pujari on Monday morning, as D1 also lives in the same territory. It is apparent that the death occurred due to a territorial fight,” Bandhavgarh tiger reserve field director Anupam Sahay told TOI.