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Tigress and Four Cubs Found Dead at UPK Sanctuary; No Foul Play Detected


Tigress and Four Cubs Found Dead at UPK Sanctuary; No Foul Play Detected
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Forest officials from Maharashtra’s Bhandara district discovered the carcass of a pregnant tigress who is believed to be at least 3 to 4 years old. Officials also found the bodies of four tiger foetuses, approximately seven to eight weeks old, near the tigress’ body. The discoveries were made at Umred Paoni Karhandla (UPK) Wildlife Sanctuary. 

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Ravikiran Govekar, Field Director at Pench Tiger Reserve in conversation to Hindustan Times said, “As per our observations during the post mortem and circumstantial evidence, prima facie, the tigress died due to infighting with another animal, most likely another tiger.”

“The body was found dragged to about 50-m inside the forest. Several signs and indications of infighting were found near a stream in the area, including blood trails, multiple tracks of pugmarks, drag marks, and body hair spread in this region,” he added. 

“As there seems to be another tiger involved, we are monitoring the area to locate the animal to check whether it is injured. Additionally, a further medical examination will help us explore and rule out all other possibilities for the tigress’ cause of death,” Govekar said about the next course of action.

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Authorities said that the bodies were disposed of as per the guidelines set by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Separately, Borivali’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) received its sixth tiger on Sunday evening. The 11-month-old tigress was brought to the park from Chandrapur, around 900 Km away from SGNP. 

SGNP’s Director and Conservator of Forest, G Mallikarjuna said, “The cub is healthy. She has been kept at a quarantined cage as per protocol. We will continuously monitor her health and allow her to settle first. Only then will we take a decision on relocating her closer to the rest of our tigers [at the safari area].”

Mallikarjuna also said that the cub didn’t face any trouble during the long commute from Chandrapur. The addition of this cub takes the total tally of tigers at SGNP to five tigresses while the region also has one male Royal Bengal tiger.   

Also readByculla Zoo Welcomes Two Bengal Tigers

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