A tiger in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park was found dead on Friday after forest guards shot it accidentally, NDTV reported.
The carcass of the male tiger was found at 7.10 am by forest officers in the Karuabari area, on the outskirts of the national park.
“On enquiry, it was found that the tiger died due to a bullet wound, suspected to be [from] accidental firing while trying to scare away the tiger from the public area,” a statement from the forest department said.
Kaziranga National Park Director P Sivakumar said the age of the tiger is believed to be around 10 years, The Hindu reported. “It had killed a domestic buffalo the day before and returned to the village,” he added.
Sivakumar said that a preliminary investigation showed that forest guards fired in self-defence.
The last census found that Kaziranga has a tiger population of 118. Tigers have often strayed out of Kaziranga, especially when the park gets flooded at least once a year.
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