An 8-year-old tigress was found dead in the Hediyala range of Bandipur National Park yesterday. The big cat was found dead in Kudahalla near Balluru Hundi forest belt. The dead body was spotted after three days.

The post-mortem indicated that the tigress was well grown and healthy and it would have died in a territorial fight with a male tiger. The fight has left its neck bone punctured with wounds in both hands, damages in the shoulder region and ribs bone broken, leading to internal bleeding. The officials also said the tigress had major injuries on its face with the right eye appearing ruptured.

According to T. Hiralal, Director of Bandipur National Park, there was no evidence of foul play and the claws and the skin were intact. There were grievous injury marks on the  body, he said.

“This is a natural incident in the wild and there is a surge between November and February which is winter and also coincides with the mating season of animals. The carcass was burnt after the autopsy as per the NTCA guidelines,”   he added.

This is the eighth tiger to die in the Bandipur-Nagarahole belt since January this year, of which six have died in Nagarahole and two in Bandipur. Thirteen tigers died across the country since January this year as per the NTCA statistics of which eight were reported from Karnataka, all from Bandipur-Nagarahole belt.