5-year-old tiger found dead in Nagarahole Reserve

MYSURU/KODAGU: A 5-year-old tiger was found dead in Balakovu section of the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve on Wednesday.
The decomposed carcass was noticed by forest staff on patrol in the area between Nagarahole and Sunkadakatte.
Nagarahole Tiger Reserve director S Manikandan said the postmortem was done by veterinarian Dr Mujeeb in the presence of Wildlife Conservation Fund (WCF) member Rajkumar, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) member Nagaraj Bhat, honorary wildlife warden Madappa and Haadi representative Ayyappa.
Initial reports suggested that all the 18 claws, canines and whiskers were intact. The sex of the tiger couldn’t be ascertained as the hind portion was eaten by wild animals.
Forest officials also noticed four canine marks around the neck of the tiger which suggest the death could have taken place due to in-fighting.
Nagarahole ACF Paul Antony and wildlife warden Kunjangada Bose inspected the spot.
Just a week ago, a threeyear-old male tiger and twoyear-old female tiger were found dead in the Hirikere Forest in Gopalaswamy Betta Range under Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
The samples have been sent to Forensic Lab in Madiwala, Bengaluru and Na tional Centre for Biological Sciences in GKVK, Bengaluru, for DNA examination.