2 tigers die in Ooty under 'mysterious circumstances', probe launched
A 20-member team has been formed under the District Forest Officer (DFO) to look into the death of the big cats.
Two tigers died under mysterious circumstances in Tamil Nadu’s Ooty, forest officials said on Sunday.
The carcasses of the big cats were found in a stream near the Avalanche area of Ooty. Upon receiving the information of the death of two tigers, the local forest officials reached the spot and sent the bodies of the two tigers for autopsy.
On being asked whether the tigers were poisoned or died of injuries sustained during a fight, the forest officials said that currently the exact cause of death is not known yet, and can only be confirmed after the autopsy report is examined.
However, sources in the wildlife department stated that one tiger was found with no injury marks while the other had visible injuries, but its cause can only be determined after post-mortem.
A 20-member team has been formed under the District Forest Officer, Devaraj, to look into the death of the big cats.
With these deaths, the total death count of tigers has gone up to six just in the last one month alone in the Nilgiris.
On August 17, a tigress was found dead in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and two cubs were found dead in Sigur range.
Earlier, a 17-year-old tiger was found dead inside a tea estate in Naduvattam, Tamil Nadu.
Forest department officials then attributed the death of two big cats due to infighting, while the cubs apparently couldn’t survive after being abandoned by their mother.