Four more tiger cubs died in the Nilgiris since Sunday, bringing the death toll of tigers recorded in the district to ten animals in just over a month. Forest department officials said that while one cub was found dead on Sunday evening, a search of the area resulted in the findings of three more cubs on Tuesday morning – two which had died, and one in a severely weakened state.
The cub that was still alive was from the heavily forested area in Chinna Coonoor in Kadanad, and was being treated from Tuesday morning, but died after failing to respond to treatment later in the evening.
According to officials, one cub was found dead in Kadanad, in the interface between the Nilgiris forest division and the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on late Sunday evening and a postmortem was conducted on Monday. Field Director of MTR and Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris), D. Venkatesh, said that there were signs that the cub had not been feeding, which had led to its death.
