The story of the murderous sambar confused many.
A misunderstanding over the death of a tiger in the forests outside of hill station Ooty in Tamil Nadu has led to defamation of sambar - that beloved southern Indian liquid food. A handful of Tamil news outlets reported that the tiger had died because it had eaten sambar rice. No, you read that correctly.
Officials said the tiger, reported to be a 6-year-old male, had eaten a deer a short while before it died. The species of the deer was sambar, which is found across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. And officials had initially said there was a possibility that the tiger could have been poisoned by locals.
But when some Tamil news outlets reported the story, both these pieces of information merged in a weird way into a narrative that said the tiger had died because it had eaten poisoned sambar rice.
The story of murderous sambar rice was reported by at least three established news outlets, after which it was also picked up by news aggregators and smaller sites that rehash and cannibalise reports by established media houses.
Okay. Here is what really happened. A post-mortem examination of the tiger revealed that it had a significant tape worm infestation in its stomach and intestines. Veterinarians also pulled out a shaving blade. They say the tiger could have actually been killed by internal bleeding and tapeworm infection, The New Indian Express reported.
The tiger's carcass was found near the Parsons Valley Lake Reservoir, which lies west of the hill station of Ooty. Officials estimated that the tiger had died three days before the body was spotted. They also said it may have vomited blood after drinking water from the lake.
Long story short, a tiger is dead and sambar is still safe to eat. The liquid variety.
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 "All it takes to kill a tiger?")
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