A three-year-old tigress was found dead on Wednesday night in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh, the Reserve’s top officer said.
Vincet Raheem, field director Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve said prima facie, the cause of death seems to be a territorial fight.
“During a patrol, a team of forest personnel found the carcass of the tigress in a small drain in Damokhar buffer range. The carcass was covered with maggots. There were injuries marks on it. The veterinary doctors said that it was 2-3 day old carcass. A post mortem was conducted by a team of doctors to know the exact cause of death.”
“The team also found pugmarks of a tiger near the carcass. The circumstantial evidence showed that the tigress might have been killed in a territorial fight,” he said.
According to the forest official, this is the fourth case of death of a tiger in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in a territorial fight. In April this year, three deaths were reported from the reserve.