Tiger cub dies in fight with big cat in MP's Pench reserve

A tiger cub died in a fight with a male big cat in the core area of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, a forest official said on Tuesday.

Deputy director of the reserve Rajneesh Singh said two security staffers in compartment number 585 of Alikatta grassland of the Karmajhiri core area heard the fight between tigers on Monday evening.

After some time, they saw the fight across the road and later noticed a big cat dragging the cub's carcass into the deep forest area, he told PTI.

The field staff informed senior officials about the incident, but the spot was in the bush with poor visibility and venturing on foot would have been fatal, he said.

The official said the forest staffer decided to reach the site on elephants and later found the carcass of a one-year-old female cub.

Since the other big cat was nearby, a camera was installed at the spot, and the carcass was left there, he added.

On Tuesday morning, as per the protocol of NTCA and necessary formalities, a post-mortem was conducted, and the carcass was consigned to flames, the official said.

Apart from the male tiger, a tigress is also present in the Alikatta area with two other cubs, he said.

The official said that male tigers in the wild try to kill cubs of tigresses for mating, and this may have been the cause for the fight in this case as well.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)