Tiger carcass found in Pilibhit Reserve

The decomposed carcass of a tiger was found in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Wednesday. This is the second big cat to die in the forest range in the last 15 days.

The decomposed carcass of a tiger was found in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Wednesday. This is the second big cat to die in the forest range in the last 15 days. In the last census, PTR had just over 50 tigers. A couple of weeks ago, an adult tiger, which was attacked and injured by villagers in Pilibhit, died during a botched rescue attempt by forest department officials.

According to reports, on Wednesday evening, the forest department found the decomposed and “almost dried up” carcass of the adult tiger in the Khakra compartment of the Mahof forest range in the PTR.

Field director of PTR, H. Rajamohan, said a part of the tiger’s body was eaten up by wild animals. “Nails and almost all the teeth are intact in the carcass. This suggests that it was not killed by poachers. The carcass seems to be over one week old,” he said.

With this, PTR has lost three adult tigers since April 4. Two of them are dead, while one was sent to Kanpur zoo.

The field forest force has been directed to conduct combing operation in entire area to collect the clues about the tiger’s death.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has nominated a representative to be present during the post-mortem for assessing the causes leading to tiger’s death and submit an independent report.

Autopsy of the big cat will be conducted on Thursday in PTR by a panel of doctors from Bareilly’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute. The designated representatives of the NTCA as well as chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh will be present there.

The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, according to the last census, had just over 50 tigers.

Meanwhile, Lucknow-based wildlife enthusiast Kaushlendra Singh, has written a letter to the principal secretary, forest department, Sudhir Garg, asking him to explain the special measures taken by the state government to protect the tigers in the PTR and other protected sanctuary.

“Why did the field forest force of PTR fail to trace the carcass for more than one week, especially when the spot was a junction point of two states?” he asked and added, “This lapse is concrete evidence that the claims of PTR officials of carrying out round-the-clock combing in wild are false.”