The mystery is creeping up on the death of two tigers and an elephant at the Bandipur national park, Karnataka as the carcasses of the animals were found nearer to a water body. The viscera of the animals have been sent for tests to ascertain the cause of death, and authorities are now waiting for the report from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, and the Forensic Science Laboratory in Bangalore.
According to reports, Karnataka forest officials suspect a foul play in the incident, and many believe that the water body could have been poisoned. The BRT management has collected water samples from each of these water bodies in the area and sent them for chemical analysis.
Initially, the dead bodies of the animals were spotted on January 25, 2017, very close to the Hirekere waterbody in the Himmavad Gopalswamy Betta range of the tiger reserve by the forest watchers. The bodies were found decomposed indicating that the animals might have died a week ago.
The male tiger was found to be about three years old, while the female tiger was two years old. The female elephant which died was about 25 years old, officials said.
Earlier, the villagers in and around the national park were barred from grazing their cattle in the notified area and forest officials are still unclear whether the animals were killed by the disgruntled villagers.
Even though several forest officials believe that the water body might have been poisoned, many local people rule out the possibility as the amount of poison required to contaminate such a large body of water will be huge, and if it was poisoned, then several other animals which depend on the water body would also have died.
The Bandipur tiger reserve in Karnataka is home to more than 130 tigers.
