Shunned by mother, tiger cub starves to death in MP reserve
Bhopal: A tiger cub, ‘abandoned by its mother for being weak’, died of hunger in the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Sunday.
The four-month-old cub was found dead in Khedighat under Magor Katha forest range in the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) by a patrolling party at around 9.45 am on Sunday, deputy director of PTR Rajneesh Singh said.
The cub was literally reduced to bones and it appeared to have not taken any food for some days, a forest officer of the reserve said.
Carcass of a cow was spotted lying barely around 15 ft from the body of the cub, which indicates that it had hardly the strength to move that far to feed on it, the forest officer, unwilling to be quoted, said.
Camera trap footage has clearly shown that the tigress along with her other cub was feeding on the carcass of the cow while the ‘sick’ cub was lying at a distance.
Even the mother tiger did not bother to look at the ‘sick’ cub, the forest officer said.
“Prima facie, it appears the tiger cub died of hunger after being abandoned by its mother”, he added.
“The big cats including the female tigers usually abandon their cubs who were found to be weak to look after the stronger siblings. This is the natural trait of the big cats”, wildlife expert and veterinary doctor Akhilesh Mishra said.
“There were no signs of any kind of foul play in the death of the tiger cub”, the PTR sources said.
The carcass of the tiger cub will be sent to the veterinary research Centre in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh for forensic tests to ascertain the exact cause of its death, the PTR sources said.
The PTR has 123 tigers.