Mystery surrounds death of tiger in Uttar Pradesh

IANS, 10 January 2010, 06:39am IST

LUCKNOW: Mystery surrounds the death of a tiger whose carcass was discovered four days ago in a forest area in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district as the autopsy report has failed to ascertain the exact cause of death.

“Veterinary doctors have rejected the theory of the forest officials that the feline died of electrocution,” a source in the state forest department said here Saturday.

The eight-year-old male tiger was found dead Jan 5 in Paraspur forest under the North Kheri division, about 180 km from state capital Lucknow.

The autopsy report of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, has failed to establish the cause of death, which according to medical reports died at least 48 hours before it was found. The internal organs were decomposed.

Forest officials had said earlier that electrocution was “the most possible reason” for the feline’s death as they had recovered wires lying near the body.

Divisional Forest Officer, North Kheri, K.K. Singh told IANS on phone Saturday: “Yes, it’s definite that the tiger has not died of electrocution as no burn injuries have been detected on its body.

“We are still confused and don’t know what led to the feline’s death.”

Now, forest officials say the most probable cause of death could be poisoning.

However, experts say in case of poisoning the tiger’s skin usually gets disfigured and the hair starts falling, But this was not the case with the animal.

Dudhwa in Lakhimpur Kheri, one of the country’s largest tiger reserves, has 106 tigers, according to the last census.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/-Mystery-surrounds-death-of-tiger-in-Uttar-Pradesh-/articleshow/5429544.cms

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