A female tiger, aged around five years, was found dead in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) on Monday morning. The carcass was found at the Thazhathur section of forest in Kurichyad forest range under the sanctuary.
The animal, suspected to have died two to three days ago, had deep wounds on its neck, said B.N. Anjan Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest, Wildlife, Palakkad, said. He said the injuries could have been sustained while the big cat was trying to escape from a snare. The animal had reached the sanctuary from the neighbouring Guntra forest range under the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Karnataka, he said.
The wounds were clearly visible in the images from camera traps installed in the BTR, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary warden P.K. Asiff said. The post-mortem report revealed that the wounds could have caused the animal’s death, Mr. Asiff added.
A team of veterinarians led by forest surgeon Arun Zachariah conducted an autopsy on the carcass.
Samples collected from the carcass would be sent for examination.
Tiger population
A monitoring programme of the Forest Department for 2017-18 had found that the WWS, a biodiversity hotspot in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, had the largest tiger population in the State.
Of the 176 tigers in the State, 75 were from the WWS, part of a large forest holding the single largest population of tigers in India.