Tiger found dead in Guj was same caught on camera: Forest dept

The Gujarat forest department Wednesday confirmed that the tiger found dead in Mahisagar district on Tuesday, was the same that was captured on camera around two weeks back, the first sighting of a tiger in the state in three decades.

The department, however, ruled out poaching as the cause of the tiger's death.

The carcass of the tiger was found on Tuesday at Kantar village in the forest area of Mahisagar district. The animal was found dead around 15 kms from the spot, where it was last captured on camera.

Based on the examination of the carcass, the forest department ruled out the possibility of poaching, a senior forest department official said.

According to the official, the pattern of the tiger's stripes led the post-mortem panel, formed to probe its death, to conclude that it was the same animal that was captured on the camera trap around two weeks back.

The official said samples of the tiger carcass have been sent to three laboratories to ascertain the cause of the death as no external injury marks were found on it.

Chief Conservator of Forests, Vadodara, S K Srivastava said, "During the examination, no physical injury was noticed on the tiger. Also, all the 18 claws, 4 canine teeth, genital organ and skin were found to be intact, hence this is definitely not a case of poaching."