A tigress, aged around 10 years, was found dead in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) on Monday morning.
The carcass was found by the frontline forest staff at Poochakkulam near the Kerala-Karnataka border in the Muthanga forest range under the sanctuary during routine patrolling.
The big cat is suspected to have died in a fight with an elephant. The footprints of an elephant were found near the carcass, wildlife warden S. Narendra Babu told The Hindu.
A team of veterinarians led by forest surgeon Arun Zachariah autopsied the carcasses as per National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) protocol.
Samples collected from the carcass will be sent for examination in laboratories prescribed by the NTCA.
A monitoring programme of the Forest Department for 2017-18 found that the WWS, a biodiversity hotspot in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, has the largest tiger population in the State. Of the 190 tigers in the State, 120 were identified at WWS, which is part of a large forest complex holding the single largest population of tigers in India.
