Whiff of male tiger in PTR cattle killings

DALTONGANJ: Mystery shrouds the killing of a herd of cattle at the Palamu Tiger Reserve. The incident occurred in the Barwadih zone of the tiger reserve and the herd included three cows and an ox. All four bore the marks of the claws of a tiger. The gender of the tiger continues to bewilder PTR officials.

Sources said the killings took place on the night of April 13 when the herd of cattle was wandering in the buffer area of the tiger reserve.

When they did not return till the night of April 14, their owner became suspicious and sent out an alarm. A search was launched for the missing four. The next day they were found dead.

S E H Kazmi, the field director of project tiger, confirmed the killings in the tiger reserve.

According to Kazmi, multi-ple killings in a row are generally done by a tigress and her cub or cubs as the mother tigress trains her cubs how to attack and this training costs the life of those animals, which come in their way.

However, Kazmi's versions was belied by the trapping camera. An image recorded by the trapping camera showed one male tiger in the area on April 14 where the cattle was found dead. The field director confirmed this image recording of a male tiger on April 14 who has now been christened Maharaja.