Another tiger found dead in eastern Maharashtra's reserve; second in two days

Gondia: The partly decomposed carcass of a sub-adult tiger was spotted in the Nawegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in Maharashtra's Gondia district on Monday, forest department officials said, a day after another big cat was found dead nearby.

With all body organs intact and presence of several injury marks on neck, shoulder, abdomen and other places of the feline, it is assumed the sub-adult tiger, aged 20 to 22 months, may have died in infighting, they said.

The sub-adult feline was said to be a cub of tiger named T4 and its carcass was found in the morning in compartment No. 99 of south-east Nagzira area of NNTR during patrolling by reserve staffers, said the officials.

The place where the carcass, about a couple of days old, was found is just 3 to 4 kilometres away from the spot where a tiger, T9, was found dead on Sunday, they said.

After completing formalities as per guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the carcass was consigned to flames.

Honorary Wildlife Warden and representative of Chief Wildlife Warden Sawan Bahekar opined that looking at circumstances there is every possibility both the big cats were killed in infighting.

"There is movement of another dominating male known as 'Pangdi Tiger' in the vicinity. Perhaps the T9 and cub of T 4 had been killed in fighting with Pangdi Tiger," Bahekar added.

NNTR, notified as the 46th tiger reserve of India in 2013, is the fifth such national park in Maharashtra. It spans Gondia and Bhandara districts in the north-eastern corner of Maharashtra and is a critical habitat for tigers and various other species.