A five-year-old male tiger was found dead on Monday in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the picturesque Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.
The carcass of the tiger was found in the middle of the bushes in Nilakottai Range in the core zone in MTR on Monday. Sources told DH that the carcass was found by a regular team of forest officers who were in regular perambulation.
The tiger is understood to have lost its life on Sunday but it was found only on Monday.
Initial probe, according to sources, has ruled out poaching angle in the incident. "The carcass was intact when we recovered which means the tiger was not killed for poaching purposes," a source told DH.
Teams from forest and veterinary department rushed to the spot on Monday morning and conducted an autopsy. Since flesh and spines of porcupines were found inside the gut of the tiger, it is understood that the dead animal had poached a porcupine.
“Visceral samples, which were collected from the carcass, will be sent for laboratory analysis to find out the exact cause of the death of the tiger," the source added.