In a surprising incident, a tiger died of starvation in Sarpduli range of the Corbett Tiger Reserve at Ramnagar in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. According to reports, the carcass of the big cat lying along the roadside in the reserve’s Sarpduli range was first sighted on March 31 by a tourist, who had also informed the authorities.
The tourist was initially thrilled to catch a glimpse of the tiger but a closer look made it clear that it was dead as it lay motionless with flies swarming over its body. The tiger had a deep wound on its leg and seems to have died of hunger as it couldn’t hunt for prey.
The postmortem of the tiger confirmed its death due to hunger as its stomach was found empty.
Earlier on March 19, a tiger pinned down by an earthmover, after it was possibly overdosed during attempts at tranquillisation in the forests adjacent to the Corbett tiger reserve, died soon after it was captured. The locals had pressure on the forest officials to remove the tiger as the panic-stricken migrant labourers had threatened to abandon work and flee.
The forest personnel had swung into action with tranquillising guns and used an earthmover from a local quarry to pin down the tiger even before the drugs took effect. The big cat was injured in the process and died while being transported to the Nainital zoo the same day.
