Injured tigress dies in Dudhwa buffer zone

After a brief encounter with humans, a tigress died reportedly due to previous injuries in the Dudhwa buffer zone on Saturday. In a relief, no human suffered any injuries during the confrontation.

Said to be two years old, the tigress first entered a house in the Rampur Dhakaiya village of Mailani range. Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) field director B. Prabhakar said a rapid response team (RRT) was rushed to the village, which attempted to drive the tigress back into the forest.

However, the big cat, which looked weak and feeble, charged on the RRT’s vehicle damaging its window panes and hid in the nearby bushes, Prabhakar added.

As there was no movement for a while, the tigress was checked upon and was found to have died.

It may be recalled the carcass of a four-year-old male tiger was found in the north Nighasan range of the Dudhwa buffer zone a few days ago. Its postmortem examination established that trachea rupture due to infighting with some other big cat might have caused the injury.

About Saturday’s incident, he said the preliminary investigations ruled out poaching or poisoning attempts as all body parts were found to be intact.

He said the examination of the body revealed that its canines and claws were damaged, and there were two puncture wounds on the abdomen and an injury near a paw.

Deputy director of the buffer zone Sundaresh said the tigress was trying to hunt a cow in the village.

PIC: Dudhwa authorities examining the carcass of a tigress which died at the Mailani range (Sourced)