A week after environment minister Jairam Ramesh termed Karnataka as the Tiger Capital of the country, the state’s image took a beating. While the carcass of a male tiger with most of the nails and several teeth missing was found inside the Nagarhole national park on Thursday, an injured one was spotted in Bandipur tiger reserve on Friday.
The carcass was spotted by a mahout of the forest department close to Kabini backwaters at the Baraballi beat in D B Kuppe wildlife range of the national park. “The mahout found the carcass on Thursday morning while searching for an elephant and immediately tipped us off. The animal, which appeared six or seven years old, might have died a few days ago. It was a natural death,” said principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) B K Singh.
Forest officials, however, ruled out the role of poachers in the death of the tiger, saying: “After the tiger’s death, local people might have stolen its nails and teeth. Post mortem reports have revealed that it was a natural death.”
Injured and missing
The forest authorities suffered the second jolt on Friday when they received news of another tiger suffering injuries inside Bandipur National Park. B K Singh has rushed to the Bandipur Tiger Reserve along with a few senior officials of the department.
Deputy conservator of forest, Bandipur, K T Hanumanthappa said, “A couple of days ago, on Tavalanagere beat of Omkar range, we spotted a tiger inside the woods which was limping. It had a five centimetre-deep wound on its left foreleg. We decided to arrange for its treatment inside the forest itself.”
“It was not an easy task. The tiger, which was not able to hunt, was stationed near a water hole. Yesterday evening, we had kept five kilograms of mutton near the water hole and the tiger ate it completely. Later we kept another five kilograms of mutton mixed with antibiotics and painkillers, but it did not touch it. Our camera trapping devices recorded that it came close to the mutton plate around 1:00 am on Saturday but turned back,” Hanumanthappa said.
Sources in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve said injured animals dip their wound in water for a long time to help the pain to subside. However, after it sensed human presence, the tiger has stopped coming to the water hole. Forest officials are now working out a strategy to track and rescue the tiger.
“Depending on the injury, we will decide whether to leave it in the forest or shift it to the zoo,” B K Singh added.
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/20110410201104100014459273f7177f7/Big-cats-unsafe-in-India’s-Tiger-Capital.html
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