KOLKATA: A male Royal Bengal Tiger that had strayed from the core forest area close to Harikhali camp in Sunderbans died while being taken to the Sajnekhali camp for treatment. Though forest officials attributed the cause of death to be old age, experts did not rule out the effect of cyclone Yaas and the phenomenal rise in water-level in the river.
The big cat, aged around 12 years, was spotted by forest officials lying on the ground in extremely sick condition on Sunday morning. They tried their best to revive the tiger by pouring ORS mixed water in its mouth. But, the tiger died.
"Apparently it seems that the tiger died because of old age. The post mortem will ascertain the actual cause of death," V K Yadav, state Chief Wildlife Warden said.
A senior forest official of Sunderban Biosphere Reserve said forest staff risked their lives and ventured very close to the tiger and did their best for the tiger's survival.
"The wild animals face a lot of difficulties during cyclones as they were subjected to remain for long hours in the water. If a big cat is sick and is unable to catch prey for a long time then physical stress may take its toll. This may have triggered the death of the animal," P K Vyas former state Chief Wildlife Warden said.
In the last few days after Yaas had hit the state, two incidents of crocodiles straying into human territory have been reported. Few deers have also been rescued by forest staff after they came out from their normal den inside the forest.
"I have concerns about the wild boar in the Sunderbans. They are not good swimmers and when Aila had hit the state in 2009 there was a significant drop in wild boar population. So I hope that the department will soon conduct a survey to find out whether the prey base of big cats has been disturbed or not," added Vyas.