Yet another big cat was reported dead in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, pushing the toll to 40 this year so far in the state, the highest across the country.
In the fresh incident, a 10-year-old tigress was reported to have died two days after being rescued from a buffer zone of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Umaria district.
As per the forest official, the dead tigress identified as T-66, was spotted in the Khitoli and Panpatha buffer zones of the reserve since the past one month. The official told IANS that a forest team was constantly monitoring the carnivore and it seemed to be unable to hunt for prey due to some serious injuries.
The feline was rescued from the Khitoli zone on November 26 and was brought to Baherha enclosure where a team of doctors from Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University (Jabalpur) was treating the tigress, official added.
"The tigress was found injured and starved. Efforts were made to feed as per the advice of veterinary experts, but the tigress was unable to eat and died on Sunday," Forest official said in a statement on Monday.
Later, an autopsy was conducted and carcasses were disposed of as per the directives of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, statement read.
With this new death, the Madhya Pradesh which is known as the 'tiger state' and has renowned reserves such as -- Kanha Tiger Reserve, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Pench Tiger Reserve, Satpura Tiger Reserve and Panna Tiger reserve, has reported as many as 40 big cats dead between January 1 to November 29.
Last week, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued notices to the Centre and state government along with Forest and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on the increasing number of tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh.