Satkosia Bengal Tiger Mahavir Sustained Fatal Wound In Poachers’ Trap: Report

Bhubaneswar: The prospect of inter-state tiger translocation in Odisha looks bleak following a disconcerting report by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) attributing Royal Bengal tiger Mahavir’s death in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary to a trap laid by poachers.

According to the report submitted by NTCA IG (Forest) Dr Amit Mallick and senior scientist Dr K Ramesh of the WII to  NTCA Director General Anup Nayak, the Bengal tiger had not died after killing a porcupine whose spine was found in its stomach during the postmortem. The big cat had rather sustained deep wound around its neck while trying to escape a trap laid by the poachers to catch wild boars. The tiger died due to multi-organ failure as the wound got infected and became sepsis, the report added.

The Bengal tiger was found dead in the core area under Raigoda range on Hindol-Narsinghpur border on November 14.

It may be mentioned here that three-year-old Mahavir was brought from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh on June 20 and kept inside an enclosure at Raigoda on June 21. After observing his behaviour, the Forest officials had released him into the wild of Satkosia on July 6.