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UDHAGAMANDALAM: The state forest department arrested two men on Tuesday for poisoning a tigress to death in the Singara forest range of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris in November 2020.
A tigress was found dead at Seemarkuli Odai near Aachakarai on November 20. Though foresters did not suspect any foul play initially, tissue samples sent to three different labs for examination showed poisoning as cause of death.
A special intelligence team conducted a meeting with cattle owners and herders in the area and found that four people were involved in the poisoning. A Ahamed Kabir, 26, and P Karian, 25, both from villages hamlet near Masinagudi, were nabbed and remanded in judicial custody. A search is on for the other two.
The department is awaiting results from two more labs.
On November 21, a female tiger was found dead at Seemarkuli Odai area near Aachakarai in the Singara range of forests in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) - buffer zone - in the Nilgiris.
As per the protocol of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a search was conducted by the forest field staff around the spot where the carcass of the tiger was found.
Two male tiger cubs were secured by the field staff from a bush in that area.
After postmortem, the preliminary report revealed that there were no physical injuries.