One more tiger poached in Maharashtra's Melghat

NAGPUR: At a time Melghat forest officials are in the spotlight in poaching cases, one more tiger was found dead due to suspected poaching on Wednesday in Kund area under East Melghat forest division of Amravati Circle.

State chief wildlife warden Sarjan Bhagat denied that it was a case of poaching. "Some of the body parts of the tiger are missing since the carcass was badly decomposed. It died due to injuries afflicted by a shepherd when the tiger attempted to attack him and his cattle," Bhagat told TOI.

Interestingly, after Masondi, this is the second tiger death in DyCF Jitendra Ramgaonkar's area, who was recently honoured in Nagpur for cracking poaching cases.

Sources said nails, paws and several body parts of the tiger are missing. Bhagat said the tiger is feared to have died 10-12 days ago, but the matter came to light when a forest guard on patrol smelled the decaying body.

The spot where the tiger was buried was covered with tree branches. After digging at the spot, the tiger carcass was revealed.

This is the 10th tiger death in Maharashtra since January 2013.