Abandonment, Starvation reason for death of tiger cubs: NTCA

CHENNAI: As the recent deaths of 10 tigers, including 6 cubs, in the Nilgiris forest, raised concerns over the conservation of big cats, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has confirmed that the cubs died of starvation. Other four tigers had died due to poisoning and infighting.

In a report, the central authority said that in general, adult females deliver 2-3 cubs (sometimes as many as 5) in one litter with 50 per cent cub mortality, attributed to several factors, such as disease, starvation, and infanticide.

"Possible reason for the death of 2 week old cubs in Segur area could be the weaker health condition of both cubs (at least one), leading to abandonment by the mother in order to conserve energy to raise fit individuals in the subsequent litter. Additionally, the early age of cub delivery (inexperienced mother) can be also one of the reasons for litter abandonment, " the report added.

Also, NTCA has observed that the four cubs that died in Chinna Coonoor area were two months old. The report cited two main reasons for the deaths of these cubs. First, at this age the cubs start to feed on kills made by mother.

So the mother often has to make the kill to raise the cubs. Then the mother will have to travel a long distance if prey density is low. This leads to unattended cubs for prolonged periods. And if the denning site is deemed unsafe, the mother will shift the cubs (after 2-3 months) to another location.

Chinna Coonoor area is surrounded by significant human disturbance. Therefore, these cubs may have been left unattended by the mother during the transit for a longer duration and hence, cubs died because of prolonged starvation.

As per the report, two tiger deaths at Nadivattam and Karkudi were due to infighting and death of two tigers in Avalanche were a clear case of poisoning. The forest department has already arrested a person for alleged poisoning.

A forest department release said that more trap cameras were deployed around the places where the 6 cubs died to monitor the movement of the tigers. The cameras have been deployed in 40 places in the Chinna Coonoor area and 18 places in the Segur area.

Further 6 teams were deployed in intensive search in those areas. Intensive search is also being done in the above areas by 6 tea.