Bengaluru, June 27 - A female tigress and her four cubs died in the Male Mahadeshwar hills under Hugiam forest range. Karnataka Forest Minister Ishwar Khandre on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the unnatural death. The tiger and her cubs were found dead during a morning patrol by vigilant frontline staff, officials said.
Expressing grief over the incident, Khandre has ordered an immediate probe into the matter. The investigation team will be headed by a team headed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.
“The area has been immediately cordoned off and declared a protected area. Standard crime scene protocols have been implemented within a radius of 500 metres to preserve and collect all physical evidence. A comprehensive necropsy has been carried out by a five-member expert team following the National Tiger Conservation Authority protocol,” Khandre said in a statement.
He said extensive tissue, blood and stomach samples are being processed for toxicology, histopathology and DNA profiling. A high-level inquiry committee was constituted following the orders of the Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and NTCA guidelines, which will submit a comprehensive report within 14 days.
Officials said the discovery of a decomposed carcass of a cow in the area on Friday has further strengthened the suspicion that the deaths may have been caused by poisoning.
Khandre also supported the same theory. He said that someone might have poisoned the animals, due to which these big cats died.
“Our government has taken this matter very seriously, and we will investigate it from all angles. We will not spare those behind this,” he said. Forest officials said that the postmortem of the mother tiger was done on Thursday itself, while the postmortem of the four cubs is underway on Friday.