Another tiger found dead due to infighting in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

COIMBATORE: A male tiger aged about ten years was spotted dead in the Nilakottai range in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).

The frontline staff on routine patrol spotted the carcass of the tiger in the Pennai forest range on Wednesday and informed officials. A team led by C Vidhya, Deputy Director of MTR (Core Area), visited the spot and an autopsy was performed by a team led by wildlife veterinarian K Rajesh Kumar on Thursday.

The carcass of the animal had wounds sustained possibly in a fight with another tiger. “It also had a bone fracture in its head. After collecting samples for a laboratory analysis, the carcass was consumed to fire as per the protocol of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA),” said an official.

Its death comes barely a few days after a tigress aged around five years was found dead in the same Pennai forest in the Nilakottai range on Sunday (March 2) and autopsy done on Monday (March 3).

That animal too had sustained injury on its chest and had starved to death. Further inquiries are under way.

Meanwhile, in another wildlife-related incident, Panneerselvam (57) from a village near Bitherkad in Pandalur and working as a security guard in a tea estate was critically injured in a gaur attack on Thursday morning.

He was going on a walk to work when a gaur emerged from the thicket and charged him. He was admitted to the Primary Health Centre in Nilakottai and then to a private hospital in Sultan Bathery.