Mumbai: Maharashtra lost yet another tiger with a sub-adult tigress being killed in a territorial fight with another feline in Melghat on Saturday. This has increased the number of tiger mortalities in Maharashtra since January to 11.
On Saturday, a hind paw of a young tiger was found by forest staff on patrol duty in compartment no 579 in Sipna wildlife division of the Melghat tiger project. The carcass of a large wild boar, which seemed to have been killed by a tiger, was also found nearby. The forest department deployed its sniffer dogs, who combed the area, and found the carcass of a sub-adult female tiger around 100 meters away.
The rear end of the body of this tigress was partly eaten and its neck had teeth marks. The pugmarks of a large tigress were also found nearby. The three paws of the dead sub-adult, and its nails and teeth are intact. The veterinary doctors have opined that the dead animal was a one-year old, who may have been killed around three to four days ago.
Piyusha Jagtap, deputy conservator of forests (DCF), confirmed that the sub-adult tigress may have been killed in a territorial fight.
The 2018 Tiger Census had estimated Maharashtra’s tiger numbers at 312 out of India’s 2,967. Most of these tigers are concentrated in Vidarbha, especially the State's tiger capital of Chandrapur, which covers the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) and the Bramhapuri territorial division.
As tigers are territorial animals, they compete for territory, leading to fights and deaths.
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