A full-grown tiger T161 died of blood poisoning as a result of damage caused by its defunct radio collar. For the past two years, the forest department has been unable to capture the tiger and lift the collar. On Wednesday morning, the carcass of a 4.
CHANDRAPUR (CNN): In what may be the first case of its kind, a full-grown tiger T161 died of blood poisoning as a result of damage caused by its defunct radio collar.For the past two years, the forest department has been unable to capture the tiger and lift the collar.On Wednesday morning, the carcass of a 4.5-year-old tiger was discovered in Ambeutara nullah in compartment no.290 of Rantalodhi round of Karwa range in the core zone of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR).
To remove the collar and repair the wound, a rescue team was looking for the tiger for tranquilization and capture.Nonetheless, the beast kept eluding the rescue team and was found dead in the nullah on Wednesday by the rescue crews.The tiger was radio collared in April 2019, according to CCF and TATR field director Jitendra Ramgaonkar, with two other subadult females (all cubs of T19 female Lara of TATR).The last signal from the radio collar was received in August 2019, after which the male was discovered by camera traps in 2020 and 2021. The tiger was attempted to be captured by the police in 2019, but the animal was unable to be captured, according to Ramgaonkar.The tiger was photographed sporadically later in the park, and there were no anomalies.The tiger was photographed with a wound around the neck in February 2022, and a long-term monitoring and capture operation to remove the collar was undertaken.Nevertheless, Ramgaonkar said it was difficult because of T161's constant movement in the dense forest. Although TATR officials understood that the collar's auto-drop function had malfunctioned, they did not press forward to capture the tiger and remove it.In truth, no attempts were made to tranquallize and remove the tiger's collar until now, despite initial attempts in 2019.As the beast increased in size and weight, it developed a thigh strain, and the collar began to strain its throat.Its time was also overshadowed by the chocking, which lasted almost two years. By the time it came to the attention of TATR authorities in February this year, the wound was deep and maggot-laden.Due to the officials' apathy, the tiger may have been in severe respiratory distress for nearly two years.According to reports, the government missed the simple fact that the tiger increases in size with age and builds strong muscles in adulthood.The collar was not removed and they considered it fit for purpose on the basis of occasional camera trap photos. The tiger was collared by WII in Maharashtra as part of a radio collaring initiative.According to deputy director, TATR (core), Nandkishor Kale, this is the first time in wildlife history that any tiger died of a burn due to strangulation by radio collar.Around 8 a.m., the rescue team discovered the tiger dead in Ambeutara nullah, with its head below the stream.The carcass was taken to Chandrapur's Transit Treatment Center (TTC) for post-mortem examination. Doctors reported that examination revealed a deep wound around the neck, and that the main cause of death was generalized septicemia (blood poisoning as a result of the spread of bacteria and its toxins in the body).