Staff Reporter
KALPETTA
A tigress, aged around 11 years, was found dead in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) on Saturday morning.
The carcass was found by some drivers inside the sanctuary at Onnampalam in the Tholpetty forest range under the sanctuary during a safari with tourists.
The big cat is suspected to have died in a fight with a porcupine as its quills were found on the carcass, Jose Mathew, Assistant Conservator of Forests, told The Hindu. The tiger had been found in a weak state for the past two weeks in the area and it was under the surveillance of the officials, Mr. Jose said.
A team of veterinarians led by Forest assistant veterinary officer Ajith Mohan autopsied the carcasses as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) protocol. Mr. Jose supervised the autopsy.
Samples collected from the carcass will be sent for examination to the Regional Chemical Examination Laboratory, Kozhikode, he said.
A monitoring programme of the Forest Department for 2017-18 had 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 the WWS, which is part of a large forest complex holding the single largest population of tigers in India.
