Tiger cub dies of electrocution on private land in Mysuru

Mysuru: Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) authorities Tuesday identified a dead tiger cub on private land, away from the tiger reserve. The visual of the female big cat was captured on a drone camera. Authorities suspect it had died of electrocution. A case has been filed under the Wildlife Protection Act and an inquiry is under way. BTR director S Prabhakaran told TOI, following a complaint about the presence of big cats in the region, local forest officials were scanning the area using drone cameras, when they found a tiger lying in the same position for more than two hours. A team was rushed to the spot and soon it was confirmed that the big cat had died. The director said it was a female cub that got separated from its mother recently. Responding to a query, the director said the nearest forest area is about 20 km from the spot. CESC officials informed forest staff that power had been illegally drawn from a pole to the fence where the tiger cub was found dead. The landowner and lessee had used this illegal connection to protect their land and crops, he added. Prabhakaran said a case has been registered against them over the death of a Schedule 1 animal under India's Wildlife Protection Act. A week ago, a tiger had killed a farmer's livestock. To rescue the tiger, forest department officials had set up a trap in the area. Eight deaths in nine months in Ch'nagar Last June, five tigers, including a mother and her four cubs, had died from poisoning in the Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary. In Oct, a tiger was killed, its carcass chopped and buried. Another tiger had died after getting trapped in a snare in the Gundal reservoir area of the BRT Tiger Reserve in Feb this year. The latest incident in Padaguru, Gundlupet, is the eighth death in the district over the past nine months. Tiger attacks calf in Kodagu Meanwhile, a tiger attacked and killed a calf Sunday evening in Bajekolli, Kodagu district. In the past few months, there were several incidents of tiger attack in Badaga Banangala village.