A pregnant female tiger found dead in Umred-Pauni-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra

A pregnant female tiger was found dead in Umred Pauni Karhandla Sanctuary near Khaksi area in Maharashtra on Sunday.

According to the Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra, "A female tiger, aged 3-4 years old, was found dead in Umred Pauni Karhandla Sanctuary in Maharashtra today. Four foetuses, around 8 weeks old, were also found aborted nearby. Prima facie, internecine fight can be attributed as a cause of death."

The dead female tiger was spotted by a local forest guard during regular patrolling.

District Forest Official (DFO), Shri Rahul Gawai, reached the spot immediately. Gawai said, "Four foetuses around 7-8 weeks old, were also found aborted nearby. The body of the tigress was found dragged to about 50m inside a thick forest. Several signs and indications of infighting were found in the nearby stream including blood trails, multiple tracks of pugmarks, drag marks, heavily disturbed ground and body hair spread everywhere."

According to the press release, "A post-mortem was carried out in presence of veterinarians, Dr. Chetan Patond, Dr. Syed Bilal and Dr. L.A. Khan; Livestock Development Officer (LDO), Nand; Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, V.K. Parihar; Assistant Director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) as the representative of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Shri Sanjay Karkare and Assistant Professor as the representative of Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW), Dr. Vasanta Kahalkar."

"Samples have been collected and camera traps have been deployed to collect additional information. All possible information is being collected to rule out any other possibilities as a cause of death. The carcass was disposed-of as per the NTCA Standard Operating Procedures. The tigress was an adult female captured during the last P-IV exercise. She was the new entrant in the wildlife sanctuary," the Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra added.

( With inputs from ANI )