The deaths of 10 tigers, including six cubs, have brought the attention of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to the Nilgiris biosphere in Tamil Nadu. The deaths, occurring between August 17 and September 19, have been attributed to various reasons, including starvation, dehydration and poisoning. Among these, the Segur range of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) buffer zone saw the death of four cubs and has raised concerns about conservation and maintaining the population of tigers.
An NTCA team comprising Inspector General (South) NS Murali, Deputy Director of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (Chennai) Kirupa Shankar, and Ramesh Krishnamurthy, a scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, arrived in the Nilgiris on September 25. They met the Field Director of MTR, D Venkatesh, Deputy Director of MTR Buffer Zone, P Arunkumar and District Forest Officer of Nilgiris S Gowtham. They also held discussions with veterinary doctors who conducted the post-mortems on the tigers. Later, the officials visited Chinna Connoor near Kadanad and Emerald near Avalanche where four tiger cubs and two tigresses were found dead respectively. The officials also checked whether NTCA protocols were followed when investigating the deaths of the tigers.
In the statement released on September 21 by D Venkatesh, also the Nilgiri Conservator of Forests, the six tiger cubs were estimated between two weeks to two months of age. The causes of ten deaths were attributed to starvation, poisoning and injuries sustained in fights. Two tiger cubs aged two weeks were found dead in the buffer area of MTR, while one adult tiger was found dead in the core zone of the MTR. The remaining four tiger cubs and three adult tigers were found dead in the Nilgiris Territorial Forest Division Area.
Six tiger cubs found dead in 34 days
On September 17, a cub was found dead in Chinna Coonoor of Kadanad which is located between the Nilgiris forest division and the buffer zone of the MTR. Following the death of one cub, a search was conducted in the nearby areas and three more cubs were found– one alive, two dead – on September 19. The cub, which was starved and fatigued failed to respond to treatment and succumbed to severe dehydration in the evening on September 19. The investigation found that deaths occurred due to starvation and dehydration.
On August 16 night, two cubs, just two weeks old, were found dead in the Siriyur forests of the Segur range. A preliminary investigation found signs of an adult tiger close to where dead cubs were sighted. Post-mortem results suggested that the deaths could have happened due to starvation and umbilical infection.
Forest officials had been searching for the mothers of the six cubs and had installed new camera traps in the habitat. But conservationists and wildlife activists suspect that mothers might have been poached.
Talking to TNM, Vijay Krishnaraj, state convenor for United Conservation Movement and former secretary of the Nilgiris Wildlife and Environment Association, said it was a rare scenario for the mother tigers to leave the cubs for days, especially since the cubs were healthy. “Tigers are territorial animals, and their range would be 25 sq km only. In this particular case, the Forest Department had been searching for the mothers since they found the carcasses of cubs. Those tigers were seen alive on camera traps on September 8. But there was no sight or track of those tigers on the field, no pugmarks had been found, and nothing was captured in the camera traps. The department has not found the carcass of the mothers if they had died,” he said.
In February this year, a tiger and leopard were allegedly killed by a gang hailing from Rajasthan. According to the department officials, the gang poached big cats in Avalanche forests in Nilgiris. They were arrested in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR). The accused admitted to poaching a tiger and a leopard and consuming leopard meat. The consignment like skin, bones, paws, and claws of the big cats had been sent to the markets. Six nomadic people from Punjab and Rajasthan linked to this case were arrested in February. Vijay highlighted that Segur had witnessed a lot of wildlife protection violations, including elephant poaching. “The strength of anti-poaching watchers and camps should have been increased to mitigate such situations,” he noted.
Why did four other adults die?
Among the four adult tigers found dead, the first was found in the Naduvattam forest range on August 17. The 7-year-old tigress was found dead on the patta land at Bell View Tea Estate. The post-mortem report said it might have died due to trauma and shock due to a fight with another tiger. “On physical examination, injury marks on the tiger's neck and body were observed. Bite and claw marks with subcutaneous haemorrhage all over the body. Two deep bite injuries penetrated deep into the skull. The stomach and intestine were almost empty with only porcupine quills. All claws and canines were intact,” the statement from the Forest Department read.
On August 31, an 11-year-old male tiger was found partially decomposed near Kalhalla bridge in the Kargudi range in the core area of MTR. Signs of claws and bite marks were found on the neck and abdomen, and old age and injuries sustained in fighting are suspected to have caused the death.
On September 9, two tigers, aged eight and three, were found dead, allegedly poisoned by a local farmer in Emerald near Avalanche forests in Nilgiris Forest Division. The Forest Department also found the decomposed carcass of cattle on the river bank 80 meters away from one dead tiger. The samples were taken from tigers and cattle and sent to the regional forensic lab and Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Anaikatty for toxicology analysis.
Meanwhile, Sekar, owner of the dead cattle from Emerald village, was arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act on September 11 and later released on bail. He allegedly admitted to poisoning the cattle carcass with pesticides as a retaliation for the cow killed by one of the tigers found dead.
Talking to TNM, Forest Range Officer of Udhagai South Range SM Sasikumar said they had substantial evidence to prove that Sekar poisoned the tiger. Sasikumar also said awareness campaigns had been conducted in the villages to stop cattle poisoning.
The Nilgiri cluster in the Western Ghats has one of the highest densities of tigers in the state. According to the Status of Tigers, Co-predators & Prey in India, 2022 report, the total estimation of tigers in the Western Ghats landscape in Tamil Nadu is 306. In MTR, which is contiguous with Bandipur of Karnataka, Wayanad of Kerala, and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu, 114 tiger individuals were identified. The tiger density was 7.73 tiger per 100 sq km. The sex ratio was 1 male per 1.5 females.