Bhopal: Forest officials in Madhya Pradesh have recovered a “heavily decomposed” body of a tiger from a river bed in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, leading to the arrest of two residents of the area.
The tiger died of electrocution after coming in contact with electrical wires laid to catch smaller herbivorous animals, according to forest officials. The forest officials received a tip-off that a large animal lay buried along the Bhadar riverbank in the buffer area of the Panpatha range. A team of seven under Arpit Mairal, the range incharge, eventually discovered the body.
Speaking to The Print, Forest Range Officer Arpit Mairal said, “At one location, as we were poking along the bank to check the soil, we felt the soil was loose. We began digging and smelled a strong stench. Subsequently, we recovered a heavily decomposed body of a tiger.”
The preliminary findings of a postmortem under Conservator of Forests Dr. Anupam Sahay, revealed that the tiger got ensnared in the electrical wires, eventually dying of electric shock injuries sustained in the struggle to free himself.
“We have ruled out death for black magic as all organs and parts of tigers used in rituals are intact,” said Mairal.
Speaking to The Print, Bandhavgarh Deputy Director P.K. Verma said, “Samples of burnt skin of the tiger has been collected and sent for further examination, but preliminary findings indicate death resulting from electrocution.”
Two villagers, Ram Charan Kol and Pandu Kol, both residents of the Sukhdas village in the buffer zone, were arrested after the recoveries of similar wires and an axe from them. The police booked them under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and produced them in the court Friday.
Speaking to The Print, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Subharanjan Sen said, “We constantly carry out anti-snare operations and use dogs to sniff out snares, but despite all that, cases occur. Aiming to catch herbivores, such as wild boars, antelopes, etc., whose meat can be sold, villagers, especially around the park’s buffer zone, first create a way for animals to enter the fields and then put up snares. Often, larger animals are caught in it.”
In 2024, until September, Madhya Pradesh had seen a record-breaking 46 tiger deaths. Of the 46, 14 have died inside Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
In Madhya Pradesh, there has been a consistent increase in tiger deaths over the past four years, with 42 deaths recorded in 2023, 43 in 2022 and 34 in 2021, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority data. According to forest officials, poaching is the most common cause of tiger deaths reported in the state, but despite best efforts to prevent poachers, cases continue to occur.
Earlier on 25 November 2024, a tourist in Bandhavgarh captured a video of a tiger moving with wires around his neck, which prompted a park-wide search for the big cat. A four-day-long search using elephants traced the tiger, who was tranquilised and sent to Bhopal’s Van Vihar for medical treatment. However, despite two months of treatment, the tiger, identified as Chhota Bheem, who was popular among tourists for his wild features, could not recover from the cut marks around his neck and died of heart failure.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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