The death of T-1 or Mahavir, the tiger translocated from Bandhavgarh tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia tiger reserve in Odisha, was due to injuries sustained from a snare trap and thus a clear case of poaching, a field report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) revealed. The field inspection also found that authorities of the Satkosia reserve were attempting to conceal facts of the tiger death and has thus asked the state government to conduct a thorough investigation. 

Mahavir, a 195-kg tiger an over three years old, was translocated from Bandhavgarh to Satkosia on June 22 as part of the country’s first ambitious inter-state tiger sharing project to help Satkosia revive its tiger population. Soon after Mahavir was shifted, tigress Sundari aged over 2-years was moved to Satkosia. However, the translocation has gone sour since September. First, Sundari reportedly mauled two persons and had to be captured. She has been in captivity since November. 

Just days after she was captured, Mahavir was found dead on November 15. The death was a bigger blow to the plan to revive tigers in Satkosia and experts said it exposed the lack of preparedness on part of Odisha forest department. 

The inspection team found that Mahavir’s death occurred due to unnatural circumstances and the injuries caused by the snare trap led to maggot injuries, eventually affecting the tiger’s organs. As per the field inspection, the tiger got trapped in a snare and other traps that were set up for wild pig in the area around Brahmi/Kharuani village. “Since T1 was powerful enough for the trap set-up for wild pig, it could have broken the relatively weak trap and carried the injury around the neck for some time to be subsequently affected by maggot infection ringed around the neck injury and vital organs leading to death,” the field inspection report stated. 

The inspection, carried out by Inspector General Amit Mallick of NTCA, also re-traced Mahavir’s movements who was being tracked with the help of a radio collar. His movements showed elusiveness since he was released in the forest in July. However, direct, indirect pieces of evidence, photo evidence and GPS movements indicated that his movements slowed in the days preceding his death, which pointed to the snare trap inflicted injury he might have been carrying. 

The team also noted that poaching using snares was prevalent in the Satkosia forest in the recent past. Besides seeking an investigation, NTCA also recommended intensified patrolling, increased camera trapping and community protection to improve protection.