A 4-year-old tiger has died in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district after it got stranded between river rocks, a forest official revealed on Thursday, November 5. On the previous day, the big cat was found trapped between rocks in Sirna River near Kunada village, located around 27 km from Chandrapur. The animal is suspected to have injured its spine after jumping 35 feet off the bridge.
According to the officials, the tiger killed an animal on Wednesday and rested for a while on the bridge before jumping into the river. Apparently, it got injured during the process. Later it got stranded in between two rocks but somehow managed to get out of there in spite of an injured back.
Image: Indian Express
The forest department reached the spot and launched a rescue mission as soon as they got the information. A cage was lowered in the water to rescue the feline. The tiger injured its teeth trying to pull the cage but it couldn’t enter the cage and drifted-off with the current.
On Thursday morning it was found dead. The forest department recovered the body from the river. The autopsy report revealed that the tiger died of drowning, caused by severe weakness owing to extensive internal and external bleeding.
Maharashtra is one of the states having the highest number of tiger reserves. Sirna river flows next to the Tadoba Tiger Reserve, which was ranked sixth-best big cat habitat in the country by the Wildlife Institute of India study released in July 2019.
Though the area has always caused tiger deaths due to the human-wildlife conflicts. Over 10 tigers have died in the area since January 2019. The reserve is said to have about 50 tigers, as per the 2018 tiger estimation released in July.
The big cats have never been safe in the Indian sub-continent. Poaching, animal-trafficking and high demand for its body parts have taken a heavy toll on the tiger population in India. Although the central and state governments have been constantly making efforts to save this endangered species, such unfortunate incidents neutralize them.
Via: Indian Express