Two tigers were found dead in the reserved forest area of the Chhakata range under Uttarakhand’s Haldwani forest division, forest officials said.
According to Haldwani forest division’s divisional forest officer (DFO) Kundan Kumar, patrolling staff spotted the carcasses of the two tigers at Northern Khera beat in the Chhakata range of Nainital district on Sunday evening.
“Prima facie, it seems the big cats died after sustaining severe injuries during an inter-tiger conflict,” he said.
DFO Kumar said the postmortems of both tigers were conducted in accordance with the standard operating procedures prescribed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
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The examinations were carried out in the presence of the DFO, sub-divisional officer (SDO), senior veterinarians Dr Rahul Sati and Dr Himanshu Pangti of Nainital Zoo, wildlife biologist, the concerned ranger, and representatives of WWF, the public and the forest department, officials said.
The postmortem reports estimated the age of the two tigers to be between three and four years and four and five years, respectively. One of the tigers had suffered a punctured femoral artery, while the other had sustained a ruptured jugular vein, Kumar said.
“All body parts of both animals were found intact, ruling out any immediate signs of poaching,” he said.
Forest officials also collected and preserved the required forensic samples from the site in accordance with prescribed procedures for further analysis.
Based on the preliminary postmortem findings, officials said the deaths appeared to have been caused by fatal injuries sustained during a fight between the two tigers.
Further investigation is underway, and the final cause of death will be established after the forensic examination reports are received, Kumar added.
