Tiger Authority Issues Autopsy Directives
Bhopal: Alarmed over a recent spike in tiger deaths, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has directed States to ensure that postmortem of the feline beasts should only be conducted in presence of authority representatives.
“We have received a circular from the NTCA, recently asking us not to go in for the post-mortem of the tiger in the absence of a NTCA’s representative henceforth,” Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forest HS Pabla was quoted as saying in Bhopal by PTI.
According to directives, tiger carcass will now be kept in the freezer till authority representatives arrive to supervise the autopsy.
The directives come in the backdrop of a string of tiger deaths in the state. But officials say that the circular has been sent to several other states.
In just a little over a year, as many as seven tigers have died in the Kanha Tiger Reserve alone, but forest officials in the state say that six of the big cats died in territorial fights while one was electrocuted by poachers.
The cause of the repeated tiger deaths was, luckily, espoused by a leading English daily, which ensured that the matter did not go unnoticed.
