3 tigers found dead in separate incidents in MP

Three tigers, including a white feline and a cub, have died in different reserves and forest areas in Madhya Pradesh in the last few days, officials said on Tuesday.
The white feline died in Mukundpur White Tiger Safari in Rewa district. A tiger and a cub died in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Umaria district and core area of the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Seoni district, respectively, they said. BTR deputy field director Lavit Bharti said the decomposed body of the tiger, aged 10 to 12 years, was found in the Panpatha buffer zone two days back. The death of the feline seems natural, Bharti said. The 16-year-old white tiger named Vindhya died after a prolonged illness, Divisional Forest Officer Vipin Patel said. The wild animal stopped consuming food for the past few days and died in the wee hours of Tuesday, he said. Vindhya was the first feline in Mukundpur Safari and Zoo when it was set up in 2016 in Rewa district, said Patel. PTR Deputy Director Rajneesh Singh said the remains of the cub, aged 7 to 8 months, were found on Tuesday morning in the Karmajhiri core area of the reserve. The cub might have died during a territorial fight with a powerful tiger as most of the carcass was found eaten, he said. The cub was born to tigress ‘Patdev’, said Singh.