A tigress and her two cubs were found dead in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district Monday morning with forest officials suspecting the big cats could have succumbed to poisoning.
Prima facie, the deaths occurred after the tigress and the cubs -- a male and a female -- devoured a dead calf that was apparently poisoned by a farmer, a senior officer said.
The carcasses were spotted on a farmland near a canal in Metepar village under the Chimur forest range by some locals, who in turn, informed the forest department, said S V Ramarao, Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF), Chandrapur circle.
"Prima facie, the tigress and the cubs ate a calf that was killed by some predator in the farmland. The owner of the calf, a farmer from Metepar village, embedded Thimet (an organophosphate used as insecticide) into the carcass of the calf to avenge the predator.
"Unfortunately, the tigress and the cubs consumed the poisoned calf and died," said Ramarao.
He said Pandurang Chaudhari, the farmer who owns the calf, has confessed about his act.
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The feline carcasses have been shifted to Khadsangi rest house after spot inspection.
"Veterinary doctors have conducted post-mortem of the tigress and the cubs. Some samples have already been sent to forensic lab to find out the actual cause of the deaths," the CCF said, adding the farmer has been taken into custody.
The Chimur forest range is the territorial area close to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, which is home to a number of striped animals, in Chandrapur district of east Maharashtra.