A 15-year-old tiger has died after being found in an injured condition near the Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district, an official said on Monday.
Some locals on Sunday afternoon spotted tiger T-30 lying injured in a pond at Kohka village in KTR's border area and alerted forest authorities.
After getting the information, a forest team reached the spot and found the tiger was aged and weak, KTR's field director SK Singh said.
While preparation was underway to rescue the tiger, it died on Sunday evening, he said. It is suspected the tiger could not recover from injuries received during a fight with another feline or animal, the official said.
The carcass was later recovered and the autopsy will be carried out on Monday which will also throw light on the injuries, he said.
Madhya Pradesh has a number of tiger reserves, including Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura and Panna.