A fully grown tigress died due to drowning in a well in the Shivni Range of forests under the buffer zone of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra.
According to the information available here, carcass of the tigress was found floating in the well of a farm belonging to one Namdeo Kashinath Gahane, a resident of Shivni village on Tuesday morning and the matter was reported to forest officials.
A team of senior officials, Field Director and Chief Conservator of Forests (TATR) G P Garad, Deputy Director (Buffer) Gajendra Narwane, Honorary Wildlife Warden Bandu Dhotre, along with others reached the spot after being informed.
According to Bandu Dhotre, who represented the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the postmortem was conducted by veterinary doctors on-the-spot in their presence.
"Preliminary reports suggest that the big cat was hungry because nothing was found in its stomach and its lungs were filled with water. It might have accidentally jumped into the well while chasing its prey sometime during the night since the well had no parapet wall around it," Dhotre said.
He said that the tiger's body was cremated in the presence of forest officials.
It may be recalled here that Dhotre had staged a hunger strike in July 2012, demanding construction of parapet walls of at least three feet in height around wells of all farms near forest areas for the safety of animals.
He lamented that the government did not bother about his demand which led to the deaths of wild animals like leopards, tigers, Indian Gaurs and others.
Dhotre said that there are as many as 5,223 wells without any parapet walls around them in and around forest areas in the district, posing threats to wildlife.
He urged the government to look into the issue and provide financial assistance to farmers to construct parapet walls around their wells so that wild animals are saved from losing their lives in freak mishaps.
