Tiger carcass found: Postmortem inconclusive, evidence hints at poisoning

Sawant’s office tweeted that poisoning was the cause of the tiger’s death.

While the preliminary post-mortem report has turned out to be inconclusive, field evidence and interim medical report on the tiger carcass found in Goa’s Mhadhei wildlife sanctuary points to poisoning, sources have said.

Late on Monday evening, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s office tweeted that he was “deeply pained and concerned by the death of a tiger in the Mhadhei wildlife sanctuary”. Sawant’s office tweeted that poisoning was the cause of the tiger’s death.

According to sources, while the carcass was 70 per cent decomposed, all nails of the four-year-old male tiger were missing, pointing at foul play. “One detail that has emerged is that two porcupines were killed by the tiger shortly before. The teams will now probe if those porcupines could have been poisoned, or if it’s another case since the nails are missing,” said Rajendra Kerkar, an environmentalist privy to the probe.