A male tiger T161 of about 4.5 years age was found dead on Wednesday morning in Ambeutara stream in compartment no: 290 in Rantalodhi round of Karwa Forest Range in core area of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR).
Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar, Field Director, TATR, Chandrapur, informed that the tiger was radio collared in April 2019 along with two other sub-adult females (all cubs of T19 tigress). The last signal from the radio collar was received in August 2019 after which the male was only located by camera trap images in the following two years while moving normally. Auto Drop function of the radio collar was dysfunctional and hence physical capture and removal was tried in 2019 but the tiger could not be captured, he pointed out.
Thereafter, the tiger was photo captured sporadically and no abnormalities were observed, However, the big cat was photo captured with wound around the neck and intensive monitoring and capture operation to remove the collar was taken up but it proved unsuccessful due to constant movement of the carnivore in dense forest. The tiger was also seen yesterday near Ambeutara stream but could not be captured. The search team found it dead in the stream today morning.
The post mortem examination revealed deep wound around the neck area and is primary reason for the generalized septicemia. Visceral organs have been collected for forensic analysis, said Dr Ramgaonkar.
