Tamil Nadu Forest Department sets up 20 member team to probe death of two tigers

Chennai : The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has constituted a 20 member team to probe into the death of two tigers near the Avalanche Dam in The Nilgiris district of the state.

A team of Forest officials had found the carcasses of two tigresses near the dam on Saturday evening. The Department, in a statement, said that the two tigresses died two days before and that there were no external injuries on the bodies.

The probe team, led by Additional Conservator of Forests, Devaraj, will be searching the surrounding areas to ascertain whether the animals died due to poisoning.

The number of tigers that died in The Nilgiris district has gone to six in the last month alone. On August 17, a tigress was found dead in Madumalai Tiger Reserve. Two cubs were found dead in Sigur range. A seven-year-old tiger was also found dead in a private tea estate in The Nilgiris.

Tamil Nadu Forest Department officials told IANS that the adult tigers could have died due to infighting while the cubs died as they could not survive in forest after their mother abandoned them.