Tigress found dead in Uttarakhand’s Almora

The body was recovered close to a cage installed by the forest officials after a 38-year-old woman was killed by a tiger in the same area on Thursday

A tigress was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Salt block of Uttarakhand’s Almora district on Saturday morning, a forest official said.

The body of the tigress, aged around 10 years, was found during patrolling by forest officials. (Representative Image)

The animal’s body was recovered close to a cage installed by the forest officials after a 38-year-old woman was killed by a tiger in the same area on Thursday, they added.

“The body of the tigress, aged around 10 years, was found during patrolling by forest officials around 7.30am on Saturday. There were no injury marks on the body,” said Ganga Sharan, ranger of Jaurasi forest range.

“We can’t confirm if it was the same animal which killed a local woman a few days ago,” he added.

On Thursday morning, a joint team of Mohaan and Jaurasi forest range recovered the body of the woman from forests. The deceased was identified as Kamla Devi, wife of Yashwant Singh, a resident of Jhadgaon, Salt block in Almora district. She was attacked by the tiger when she had gone to the forest to cut grass.

Asked about rumours in local social media about suspected poisoning of the tigress, the official said, “Though it would be too early to say what led to her death, it appears to be a case of natural death. We found nothing on her body that suggested killing or poisoning.”

The post-mortem of the body has been conducted and further action would be taken on the basis of the necropsy report, he said adding that the report is expected by Sunday.

In December last year, a 24-year-old man was killed by a tiger in the Ramnagar Forest Division of Nainital near Corbett Tiger Reserve.

In June, a 40-year-old man was killed in a tiger attack in Corbett Tiger Reserve’s Sarapduli range.