The story so far: A total of 10 tigers (six cubs and four adults) have died in the Nilgiris since the middle of August. The six tiger cubs died in two separate incidents, while the four adult tigers died in four separate events, with at least one suspected to have been poisoned. The inability of the state forest department to trace the whereabouts of the two mother tigresses has raised concerns among conservationists about the welfare of the animals.
How did the tigers die?
The first reported tiger deaths occurred on August 16 in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Siriyur. After conducting a postmortem on the remains, forest department officials said that they suspect that the cubs, believed to be only two weeks old, could have died due to starvation or umbilical infection. The second death was of an adult tigress in the Naduvattam Range in the Nilgiris forest division on August 17, with officials suspecting that the tigress died due to injuries after fighting with another animal. Another suspected incident of fighting is believed to have caused the death of the fourth tiger, the second adult, in the Kargudi forest range of MTR on August 31. On September 9, two more tigers were found dead in Udhagai South Range near Avalanche in the Nilgiris Forest Division. One of the tigers, a sub-adult, was found with injury marks, indicating that it too died due to a fight with another animal. However, the larger male, found dead nearby, had no apparent injuries. A search of the area led forest department staff to the carcass of a cow that had been preyed upon by the larger tiger. After an investigation, a man was arrested for poisoning the carcass of the cow in retaliation for the tiger hunting the animal. In a final incident, on September 17, four tiger cubs were found dead over the course of three days in Kadanad in the Nilgiris North Range.
