Nagpur: The Forest Department has claimed that the tiger that was found dead in Navegaon Khairi reservoir on Monday night had died due to drowning after falling into the dam water accidentally.
The Deputy Director, PenchTiger Reserve (PTR), said that a mutilated carcass of the tiger was spotted by forest staff who are staying at Kopesarra Protection Hut of the Paoni UC Range of PTR on Monday night. According to an eyewitness, the carcass was found floating in the reservoir around 500 meter from the bank which comes under the compartment number 556, Reserve Forest of Bazarkund beat. After spotting the carcass, the protection staff reached the spot on a boat and ascertained the death of the tiger around 9 pm.
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Due to the heavy water flow and darkness, the carcass could not be retrieved by the staff. Meanwhile, the forest team retrieved the carcass on Tuesday at 12 noon amid continuous rain from the difficult terrain. Post-mortem was carried out by veterinarian Dr Mayur Pawase and Dr Sujit Kolungute from Wildlife Research and Training Centre (WRTC), Gorewada in presence of Field Director Sreelakshmi Annabathula, Deputy Director Prabhu Nath Shukla, ACF Atul Deokar, ACF Mahesh Parab, RFO Paoni UC, Jayesh Tayade, STPF RFO Anil Bhagat. HonoraryWildlifeWarden Udhamsingh Yadav representative of NTCA and Mandar Pingale from Satpuda Foundation as representative of PCCF Wildlife, STPF team and RRT and QRT teams also were present.
The autopsy was carried out as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of NTCA. All the body parts like nails, canines were intact but loosened due to water. “There was no sign of electrocution or poisoning. However, department has registered a case and visceral samples have been collected for the forensic analysis,” said Prabhu Nath Shukla, Deputy Director in a press release.
At preliminary level, suspected cause of death was drowning. Further investigation will be carried out by Jayesh Tayde, RFO Paoni UC and his team.
