Ranthambore tigress found dead

[Bibhav Behera]

A six-year-old tigress was found dead on Wednesday morning in the Kundera range of the Ranthambore National Park.

The tigress, referred to as T-5, had been sighted for the first time with her new cubs late last month in the Kachida area, bringing cheer to the park, which lost 10 tigers in the past year and a half.

She was found wounded last week, when state tourism minister Bina Kak spotted her, giving rise to fears that she had been in a fight with a tigress named T-17. The latter had been sighted in T-5' s territory in Kachida.

T-5 was treated following tranquilisation by doctors from Jaipur and Sawai Madhopur.

A post-mortem has been ordered to determine the cause of death.

Rajasthan's principal chief conservator of forests R. N. Mehrotra said the wound - near the anus of the big cat - had opened up and got infected by maggots.

The death of T-5, which gave five tigers to the park in her lifetime, has put a question mark on the survival of her three-month-old cubs.

"We have to capture them and keep them in captivity as they won't survive in the wild," Mehrotra said.

"The survival of the cubs is a challenge for the forest authorities," Rajpal Singh, a member of the state committee for wildlife, said.

However, a silver lining to the day was the sighting of the tigress T-31 with its two cubs. Mehrotra confirmed the sighting, adding that three or four new cubs were expected soon.

Recently seven cubs, including the two of T-5, have been sighted in the park.

Ranthambore tigress found dead

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sad to hear that the tigress is dead. It is even worse because she has died leaving behind small cubs.

It was widely reported that the Minister found some evidence of an injury while examining the photos and then had ordered the Vets to do some work. No idea if the vets did a good job or not. The reason for doubting this is that, the tigress was given anesthesia and the wound was cleaned. She was given a bait to kill and eat. So all of a sudden the tigress dying raises many questions. Also, it is a fact that there are not many good wildlife vets available. For further details one can refer to this article: Wild animal treatment and role of Research and vets in India - Indiawilds: Land of the Tiger. Conservation, Wildlife Photography, Communities



Sabyasachi

[Vikram Nanjappa]

I firmly beleive that we should not interfere in the ways of nature , if the wound was inflicted by a rival and not man made then the authorities should not have intervened . Survival in the wild is not a picnic and only the fittest survive , that unfortunately is a fact of life. I do not beleive that the Tiger has reached that critical stage where every wild induvidual needs to be saved by human intervention in the process of nature. If we continue to do so where are the transient Tigers going to find a home ?