Tadoba tiger death: Postmortem inconclusive

Chandrapur: Mystery continues to shroud the death of the male sub-adult tiger that was found dead in Tamsi forest in the core area of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) on Monday. The team of veterinary doctors that carried out the postmortem on Tuesday failed to derive any conclusion about the cause of its death following highly decomposed condition of carcass.
Senior vets Dr PD Kadukar, Dr Kundan Podchelwar and Dr Vinod Ramteke conducted the postmortem at Transit Treatment Centre (TTC), where the carcass was kept in cold storage overnight. Chief conservator of forests (CCF) and TATR field director Jitendra Ramgaonkar said there were no superficial injury marks on the body and all the body parts were intact.
But the postmortem has remained inconclusive following the body’s highly decomposed condition. Viscera samples have been collected and sent to forensic lab for analysis and its report may shed light on the cause of death.
Ramgaonkar said the deceased sub-adult tiger was the offspring of tigress T31 and had two siblings. Foresters have spotted its female sibling in a camera trap, while combing operations are underway to trace the male sibling. The mother tigress is safe and away in Katejhari area inside the tiger reserve for the last few days, he added.
Fifty camera traps have been laid in the area to track the missing third litter of tigress T31, Ramgaonkar said.
The postmortem was performed in the presence of Ramgaonkar, deputy director (core) NV Kale, dy director (buffer) G Guruprasad, ACF BC Yede, PCCF and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) representatives Bandu Dhotre and Mukesh Bhandakkar. Later, the remains of the tiger were incinerated at TTC before the witnesses.