TIRUCHY: A male tiger was snared to death at a reserve forest area in Gudalur in Nilgiris on Wednesday.
While going to work, a few estate workers spotted the tiger's carcass at Thattakolli near the boundary of the reserve forest area. They informed the Gudalur forest department staff on Wednesday morning.
A team led by Gudalur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) N Venkatesh Prabhu and other officials arrived and examined the carcass of the animal.
It was then found that the tiger, aged around three years, had died after getting caught in a snare made of clutch cable. The animal had suffocated to death after the snare was trapped in its neck on Tuesday night.
Wildlife veterinarians Rajesh Kumar and Sugumar conducted a post-mortem examination and confirmed the cause of death to be ensnaring. Yet, the samples taken from the animal were sent for laboratory testing.
Officials claimed that the tiger might have got caught in the snare kept for poaching wild boar and deer near the reserve forest area. All parts of the tiger are intact. Following inquiries with villagers in the neighbourhood, the forest department has taken three persons into custody, and further investigations are underway. As per the protocol of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the carcass of the tiger was burnt at the same spot.