Bhopal: Soon after regaining its glory of Tiger State status on Monday, Madhya Pradesh has lost three big cats including a tigress in past 72 hours. The body of a cub aged around 15 to 18 months was found in Ghunghuti forest range in Umaria district on Tuesday evening. The autopsy carried out on Wednesday did not find in injury on cub’s body suggesting that snakebite could also be the cause behind the death, the locals said.
Besides, on Sunday evening, bodies of a tigress—around seven-years-old and her cub (10 months) were recovered by the forest officers in Kallawah range inside the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve in Umaria district, around 500km from Bhopal, said an officer from the reserve. However the officials are clueless about the male which killed the two reserve mates. The two were reportedly killed in territorial fights by an adult male. Another male cub of the dead tigress was rescued by the reserve officers on Tuesday.
Notably, Madhya Pradesh which boasted off maximum tigers in the country had lost out this status to Karnataka in 2010. On Monday, the state however roared back to number one spot as the state in Tiger Census 2018 has recorded 526 striped felines –maximum in the country.
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is one of the most densely populated homes to tigers in Madhya Pradesh, has been managing affairs without a full-time field director for the last four-five months when the then FD Mradul Pathak retired. Deputy Director Siddarth Gupta who hails to New Delhi reportedly met with an accident a month ago and has been on leave since then.