Nagarahole's dead tigress identified

MYSURU: While the postmortem report of a tigress in the

Nagarahole tiger reserve

may be submitted next week, the big cat is most likely from the

Antharasanthe range

in the

sanctuary

.

As there's suspicion that the tigress died due to overdose of chemicals used during tranquillization, the foresters conducted the post mortem along with three experts from the Bengaluru-based Institute of

Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals

. The experts include a pathologist and a veterinary surgeon.

Visceral samples being tested:

The visceral samples collected during Tuesday's postmortem are under examination at the Mysuru regional lab of the IAH&VB.

Sources told TOI that the toxicological tests will take a week. These will be done at the Bengaluru facility while the microbiological tests will be done at the regional lab, they added.

Veterinarian Dr K S Umashankar, who fired the tranquillizer dart into the tigress, will also submit a report. The vet, attached to the Nagarahole tiger reserve, will explain the operation and medicines used to sedate and later wake up the big cat.

Sighted earlier:

Noted tiger biologist K Ullas Karanth of the

Wildlife Conservation Society-India

said the tigress had been sighted in the Antharasanthe range for seven years. “We have been conducting photographic capture-recapture studies of the tiger population in Karnataka for over two decades... The tigress which died in captivity recently was from the Antharasanthe range,“ he said.However, a senior officer attached to Nagarahole reserve said they are not able to locate the tigress in their database.