Guwahati, May 31 (IANS) The carcass of a sub-adult tiger was recovered from the Mihimukh area of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR), officials said on Sunday.
A senior KNPTR official said the four-day-old carcass of the tiger was found in the Mihimukh area under the Kaziranga Range at Kohora on Saturday evening during routine surveillance and monitoring activities carried out by forest personnel.
The official said the carcass was subsequently examined by park authorities and necessary procedures were initiated in accordance with wildlife protection protocols.
Further investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the animal’s death.
According to the official, a committee was constituted by KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh to carry out the post-mortem examination and disposal of the carcass as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The post-mortem examination was conducted on Sunday, the official said.
He said: “The cause of death could not be ascertained during the post-mortem examination due to the advanced stage of decomposition.”
Meanwhile, three tiger carcasses were recovered from the KNPTR in January and February this year.
On February 7, the carcass of a male tiger, aged around 12 to 13 years, was recovered from the western side of the Mandir Baneshwar Anti-Poaching Camp (APC) area in the Burapahar Range at Ghorakati.
Preliminary findings from the post-mortem examination suggested that infighting had led to the tiger’s death.
The KNPTR official had earlier said that the carcass of a tigress, aged around three to four years, was recovered on January 18 from the Kathpora area of the Bagori Western Range.
Preliminary findings of the post-mortem examination suggested that the tigress died due to infighting.
On January 14, the carcass of a young male Royal Bengal tiger, aged around two to three years, was detected at Thute Chapori in the Eastern Range at Gamiri under the Biswanath Wildlife Division of the KNPTR.
Preliminary veterinary examination indicated that the death could have occurred due to natural causes or infighting.
Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, India’s seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to the famed ‘Big Five’.
As per the latest estimates, the park shelters 2,613 greater one-horned rhinoceroses (2022 census), 104 Bengal tigers (2022), 1,228 Asian elephants (2024), 2,565 wild water buffaloes (2022), and 1,129 eastern swamp deer (2022).
Spread across the districts of Golaghat, Nagaon, Sonitpur and Biswanath, the park generated revenue of more than Rs 10.90 crore in 2024-25 and over Rs 8.81 crore in 2023-24.
The KNPTR comprises three forest divisions — Eastern Assam Wildlife Division (Bokakhat), Biswanath Wildlife Division (Biswanath Chariali), and Nagaon Wildlife Division (Nagaon).
–IANS
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