Bihar: 2-year-old tigress killed post 'territorial war'

A two-year-old tigress was found dead at the Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR) area in West Champaran, which shares border with Nepal.

The forest officials, who found the carcass in Raghiya forest under Gobardhan police station, around 350 kms from the State Capital, ruled out the possibility of tigress’ death due to poaching.

“Prima facie, it seems the tigress died due to territorial fight. An autopsy is being done and the samples would be sent to veterinary laboratory to find out the exact cause of the death,” said District Forest Officer (DFO) of VTR, Ambarish Mall.

Sources in the Forest Department confirmed that the lone tigress in the Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve had sustained multiple injuries in her fight possibly with a tiger of the VTR. “The vein in her throat was found to have been fractured. Besides, there were blood stains and nail marks all over the body of the tigress, which indicates there was intense fight with a male tiger over their territory, which eventually resulted in the death of the sole tigress in the VTR,” said the source.

The Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve is the only tiger reserve in Bihar after the State was bifurcated in November 2000. The other one - Betla National Park in Palamu is now in Jharkhand.

Sources told Deccan Herald that with the death of the female tigress, the number of big cats in VTR has now come down to 30. “As per the report released by the Forest Department in August 2019, there were 31 big cats in Valmikinagar,” the source added.

Spread over 900 kilometres, VTR is home to not only tigers. “Large number of leopards, bears and rhinoceros could also be found in this reserve,” the forest official hastened to add.

Meanwhile, the body of tigress was consigned to flames at Gobardhan on Wednesday.