NTCA team visits the Nilgiris to investigate tiger deaths

Team of NTCA, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and State Forest Dept. officials visited two sites in Nilgiris where tigers found dead since Aug 16. Discussed deaths of 10 tigers, inspected locations where cubs found, checked progress of detecting mother of cubs, visited Emerald where 2 tigers found dead. Investigated if post-mortem and NTCA protocols followed.

A team of officials from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau along with State Forest Department officials visited two of the sites in the Nilgiris where tigers, both adults and cubs, were found dead since August 16.

The team comprising N.S. Murali, Inspector General of Forests, NTCA, Bangalore, Kirupa Shankar, Deputy Director of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Chennai, and Ramesh Krishnamurthy, scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, arrived in the Nilgiris on Monday.

They met Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris), D. Venkatesh, Deputy Director of MTR (Buffer Zone), P. Arunkumar and District Forest Officer (Nilgiris division), S. Gowtham. They discussed the deaths of ten tigers - six cubs and four adults - in the Nilgiris forest division and the MTR.

The team then visited the site where four tiger cubs were found dead over a three-day period in Chinna Coonoor near Kadanad and inspected the locations where the cubs were found. They held discussions with the veterinary assistant surgeon, Theppakadu Elephant Camp, Rajesh Kumar, about the results of the post-mortem and the condition of the cub that was found alive and rescued (before it too succumbed to fatigue and starvation).

They also checked on the progress made by the Forest Department in detecting the mother of the cubs, which remains elusive. Officials stated that camera traps remained in place to capture images of it if it returned to the area.

They left for Emerald near Avalanche where two tigers, aged three and eight, were found dead on September 9. While one of the tigers is said to have died due to in-fighting, it is suspected that the other was poisoned, and the Forest Department arrested one person in connection with the incident.

The officials conducted investigations as to whether the post-mortem was conducted as per NTCA norms and whether NTCA protocols were followed when investigating the deaths of the animals.