Tigress found dead in Bandhavgarh with 1 cub, 3 missing

Forest officials suspected poisoning to be the cause of the Tigress’ death.

A 10-year-old tigress and its newly born cub were found dead in the buffer zone of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve located at Umaria in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning, said a forest official.

The Tigress was spotted with her four cubs a few days ago and authorities are worried about the three missing cubs.(HT Photo/File/Representative)

The forest officials suspected poisoning behind the tigress’ death but were waiting for the post-mortem report to establish the cause.

“The forest patrolling team found the carcasses of the tigress and the cub near Damokar range on Saturday. The carcass of the tigress seems to be four-day-old and the cub, one-day-old. The cub might have died due to starvation,” said Vincet Raheem, field director Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

“A few days ago, the tigress was spotted with four cubs and we are concerned about the remaining three cubs. Elephant patrolling teams are holding massive search to locate the three cubs,” Raheem added.

“As all the body parts of tigress are intact, it was not a case of poaching,” he added.

A few days ago, two newly born cubs were found dead in the reserve.