Panna (Madhya Pradesh): Tigress T-1, the first big cat brought to Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh who had given birth to 13 cubs in her lifetime has died, an official said on Wednesday. The tigress was brought here from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve under a reintroduction Project almost 14 years ago.
PTR's field director Brijendra Jha said, "a patrolling team spotted the carcass of a big cat on Tuesday evening in the Madla range. An inactive radio collar, which was worn by T-1 in 2017, was found near the carcass. A team of forest officials reached the spot and inspected the area. Dog squad also reached the spot to investigate the death of the tigress."
The remains were examined in the presence of Indrabhan Singh Bundela, Wildlife Doctor Field Director, Deputy Director, and representative of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi. The viscera was sent to Centre for Wildlife Forensic and Health, Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary College', Jabalpur, and 'State Forensic Laboratory', Sagar, for examination. After the postmortem, the carcass was disposed of on Wednesday morning as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) guidelines, he said.
She was surviving on hunting done by other tigers for some time as she had lost the strength to kill prey due to her age. The tigress had made a very remarkable contribution to the success of Panna's Tiger Reintroduction Project (TRP). PTR was tigerless when she was first brought here, Brijendra said.
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She gave birth to 13 cubs in five litters, and now there are more than 80 tigers here. The tigress last gave birth to cubs in 2016. She was the first tigress to be brought here from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in March 2009 under the project as the PTR was left with no big cats at that time. The average age of a tiger is around 14 years but T-1 lived beyond that, Brijendra said.
