A male tiger, aged about 10 years, was found dead with bullet injury in Ponnampete taluk of Kodagu on Friday.
The carcass was found in a trench at Lakkunda forest on the periphery of Nagarahole National Park. The big cat, suspected to have died four days back, was found in a decomposed state.
The forest officials claimed that the tiger had died in the gunshot fired by the operation team at Hysodluru a week ago and it is the same 10-year-old male tiger that is suspected to have claimed three lives including two boys.
According to the officials, three rounds of bullets were fired at the tiger and one bullet had hit the tiger. However, they could not trace the body of the tiger even after a week. The stripes on the body of the tiger, which was caught on the CCTV camera, and the dead tiger, have matched. The tiger was named as U-285, a DCF said.
Conservator of Forests (in-charge) Takat Singh Ranaut said that along with the stripes of the dead tiger, the tooth marks were also matching with that of the suspected tiger that had claimed three lives.
However, the farmers have refused to believe the claim of forest officials as a tiger had killed a cow in the region two days ago.
An autopsy of the tiger has been carried out. The samples from the dead tiger and the bullets will be sent for testing for final confirmation.
Published 19 March 2021, 17:08 IST