Two tigers died due to poisoning at Avalanche in Tamil Nadu: NTCA report

Efforts are on to identify the mothers of six dead tiger cubs by way of DNA analysis and the two tiger deaths at Avalanche in the Nilgiris were due to poisoning, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department said on Saturday.

A National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) team of experts, which undertook a detailed field appraisal on September 25 in the Nilgiris on the deaths of 10 tigers --including six cubs-- during August and September this year has looked into the cause of deaths in its 'observations and inference.' An official release said the NTCA has attributed the cause of deaths of two tigers in Avalanche to poisoning. It was a clear case of poisoning, a 'retaliatory killing' by an aggrieved person who has already been arrested.

On the probable reason for the deaths of two cubs in Segur area, the NTCA team said it could be due to 'weaker health condition' of both the cubs, leading to abandonment by the mother in order to "conserve energy to raise fit individuals in the subsequent litter."

The two cubs were 2-week old and the health condition of at least one could have been poor, the team said.

As regards the four cubs that died in Chinna Coonoor area, they were two months old. At this age, the cubs start to feed on the kill made by mother. Hence, the mother often has to make the kill to raise the cubs and will have to travel a long distance if prey density is low. This leads to unattended cubs for prolonged periods. Therefore, these cubs may have been left unattended for longer duration by the mother during transit and hence, cubs died due to possible prolonged starvation.

On the two tiger deaths at Naduvattam and Karkudi, the NTCA said it was due to infighting. The objective of the field appraisal was to ascertain the level of seriousness of the issue and suggest management actions. The Forest Department said a number of steps have been taken to identify the mothers of the six dead tiger cubs, two in Segur and four in Chinna Coonoor.

To monitor the movement of the tigers, more trap cameras have been installed around the places where the six cubs died. In total, 58 cameras (40 in Chinna Conoor and 18 in Segur) are in place and six teams are carrying out intensive searches.

In Chinna Coonoor, where the images of four tigresses were captured in cameras, teams have collected six scat samples and these have been sent for DNA analysis to identify the probable mothers of the cubs.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu, Srinivas R Reddy said the recent deaths of 10 tigers caused widespread concern and the government has taken several measures to improve the protection mechanism in the protected areas.

The government has regularised 210 anti-poaching watchers as forest watchers including 62 in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

"The protection has further been strengthened by setting up of three additional anti-poaching camps in the Mudumalai buffer division. The Forest Department will leave no stone unturned in its endeavour to protect tigers."