Tiger found dead in Odisha, relocation programme halted
A three-year-old tiger whose carcass was discovered in Odisha’s Satkosia reserve on Wednesday is believed to have died of a fiveday-old wound that became infected, forest officers said on Thursday. The animal, identified as MB2 and named Mahavir by his handlers in Satkosia, was shifted to the reserve from Madhya Pradesh in June in India’s first tiger translocation exercise, which has been questioned by conservationists
Shortly after the incident, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) advised the Odisha government to temporarily halt the inter-state tiger translocation programme, till an investigation is completed and a thorough review conducted, a forest department official said.
As part of the programme, six tigers were to be brought to Odisha from Madhya Pradesh. Two had been procured by the state since June, he said.
The carcass was found under a bush 500 metres from Raigoda area of the reserve in Angul district at 1 pm on Wednesday, and officials said initially that he may have died after being caught in a trap set by poachers.
Satkosia tiger reserve divisional forest officer P Ramaswamy said the site is inside the Nuagarh reserve forest of the Athgarh division which has been proposed to be included in the tiger reserve.
“On prima facie investigation of the carcass, a deep lacerated and five-days-old, maggot-infected wound was observed in the dorsal neck region of the
BHUBANESWAR:
tiger which may be the cause of the mortality. The site of incidence was not disturbed as per the NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority) protocol. The exact reason of the mortality and time of incidence will be ascertained after conducting a detailed post-mortem examination. The carcass would be incinerated after post-mortem,” said Ramaswamy, who has been appointed as the investigating officer in the matter.
Officials said a team comprising veterinary doctors, NTCA representatives, local non-government organisations and others, in line with the standard operating procedure of NTCA, would conduct the post-mortem examination.
The death adds to the controversy around the translocation, after the other tiger shifted to Satkosia — Sundari — was suspected to have killed two people, including a a 45-year-old woman in September.