DAY AFTER ST11, T28: RAJASTHAN LOSES SECOND TIGER IN 2 DAYS

A 13-year-old tiger died in Rajasthan’s Ranthambore national park on Tuesday, a day after the body of a four-yearold was discovered in the state’s Sariska Tiger Reserve, forest official said.

The Ranthambore tiger died around 1 pm Tuesday after a team of rangers was brought to the Gudda forest area from Chaan village on Khandar Road, the national park’s field director YK Sahu said. The tiger, codenamed T-28, was commonly known as Star because of a starlike mark over an eye.

“We received information this morning that T-28 was sitting in a field in Chaan village. A forest team was sent and the tiger was found still near fencing of the field, surrounded by villagers. It was tranquilised and brought to the Gudda forest area,” Sahu said. “Prima facie, it seems he died due to severe dehydration or some disease.”

In Sariska, tiger ST-11 was found dead in a field in Kalamedha village of the Indok forest area on Monday night, said the tiger reserve’s deputy conservator of forests Balaji Kari. A postmortem on the tiger was conducted on Tuesday by a board of doctors in the presence of nominees of the district collector and the superintendent of police. The body was later cremated.

Kari said the field’s owner Bhagwan Sahay Prajapat, 35, was arrested on charges of hunting under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. He said the farmer had put snares in his field to prevent nilgai from damaging his crops. Post-mortem found ST-11 choked to death after getting ensnared.

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