Though the body parts of the tiger were intact, a nylon rope was found tied to the animal's leg and belly.
A tiger suspected to have been poached at Jalgaon has raised alarm bells. On Sunday, the carcass of a male tiger, aged around eight to ten years, was found at Therola village in the waters of the Purnad river in the backwaters of the Hatnur dam. Though the body parts of the tiger were intact, a nylon rope was found tied to the animal's leg and belly.
Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Digambar Pagar said the carcass of the animal, which had putrefied, was taken for a post-mortem. "An unnatural death is suspected as there was a nylon rope tied to its body, maybe to drag it," he added.
Officials said there was a chance that the tiger had been accidentally electrocuted by those who had put up live wires to protect their crops from herbivores or poisoned to death and later thrown into the river.
A detailed post-mortem report is expected to be submitted in a couple of days. Pagar said it was likely that the tiger was from the spillover population of the Melghat tiger reserve. The reserve has a tiger movement corridor to the Amba Barwa wildlife sanctuary in nearby Jalgaon- Jamod taluka in Buldhana district.
The spot where the dead tiger was found in Muktainagar taluka is close to the Muktai Bhawani conservation reserve, which has the presence of around five to six tigers, he added.
Maharashtra forest department officials claimed this was the 10 death recorded in the state since January. Tiger deaths recorded in 2017 stand at 22, up from 14 and 13 in 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Maharashtra has six tiger reserves. The 2014 tiger census said India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. The state has around 190 such big cats, higher than the figure of 169 in 2010.
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