Postmortem report to reveal cause of Sariska tiger’s death
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Jaipur: A team of doctors from Bareilly, Dehradun and Bikaner conducted a postmortem examination of the Sariska tiger ST – 16’s body a day after the wild animal died after being tranquilized. The doctors said that the tiger had a tumour in a leg.
According to senior forest department officers, the tiger probably died of heat stroke; however, the cause of his death will be known after they receive the postmortem report. The wildlife activists however alleged that it was attempt to cover up the negligence of the team involved in tranquilization. An overdose of tranquilizing agents was responsible for the big cat’s death.
“We will receive the pathology report within two days. It will reveal the exact cause of the tiger’s death,” a senior officer said.
He added the death won’t hamper the ongoing process of the tiger relocation to Sariska. The department is planning to relocate nearly 20 tigers to this famous tiger sanctuary situated in Alwar district of Rajasthan, nearly 120 km from Jaipur.
Prima-facie the doctors concluded that the cause of the tiger’s death was due to multi-organ failure. This could be due to heat stroke or any other reason, the sources said.
ST-16 was wounded, so a forest department team tranquilized him for treatment on Saturday. He didn’t gain consciousness. The forest department declared him dead.
The wildlife activists criticized the incident which became yet another blog on the image of Sariska tiger reserve. Sariska has recently been in new following the death of tigers due to human-animal conflicts, poaching and territorial fights.
Famous tiger of Sariska tiger reserve – popularly known as ST-4 – was found dead in December last year. The tiger had been injured in a territorial fight with ST-6 a few weeks ago. ST-4 was kept in an enclosure after the fight but he died allegedly of hunger. Tigress ST-5 and tiger ST-11 were poached in February 2018 and March 2018 respectively. Wildlife experts accused reserve authorities of negligence.
