Coimbatore : The claim that the Indian forest cover is up by one per cent in the last one year has been nullified by the recent tiger death in the Nilgiris, which depicts the shrinking habitat of wild animals, leaving human footprints in their intestines.
Coimbatore : The claim that the Indian forest cover is up by one per cent in the last one year has been nullified by the recent tiger death in the Nilgiris, which depicts the shrinking habitat of wild animals, leaving human footprints in their intestines.
The six-year-old big cat that was found dead near the Parsons Valley Reservoir on Monday had a piece of blade in its intestine, according to the report of the forest department. The report by the department is even more worrying considering the presence of tapeworms inside its belly.
Officials found remains of a sambar deer in the animal’s throat during the autopsy and claimed that it could have been stuck inside causing fatal respiratory problem, ruling out suspected poisoning. Though only the autopsy report can completely deny possibilities of poisoning, which is common in a conflict zone, the death is still caused indirectly by humans.
“We believe that the blade could have entered the animal when it consumed the sambar deer. The deer could have consumed the blade,” said a forest official.
In a landscape like the Nilgiris, which is completely dominated by human being despite being home to wild animals, incidents of finding wild herbivores including elephants feeding on garbages has become very common. In this case, the sambar deer could have eaten the blade from one such garbage in the blue mountains.
On the other hand, the tiger could have contacted tapeworms after consuming the meat of a dog or goat or any domesticated animal, as such worms are not common in tigers.
It again proves the shrinking of habitats that is pushing wild animals like tigers from core forest areas towards human settlements, creating man-animal conflict.
Like elephants that contact diseases including the foot and mouth disease from cattle, big cats are also prone to contact bacteria by consuming domesticated animals.
Activists claim that during such a crisis like the unnatural death of a sub adult tiger, a keystone species, it was important for the stake holders to avoid being inert and act immediately taking lessons from the incident.
“We need to look at this incident from many angles. The initial thing that pops up in the mind is the poor waste management system in hill towns like Ooty, which is only 25 kms away. Then there is this habitat restoration, which is a must to save big cats from such deaths,” said an activist.