Overview

• A motor patrol spotted the male tiger’s body in the Tawa river backwaters on the Satpura Tiger Reserve boundary in Narmadapuram.
• Officials say preliminary findings indicate poaching, with a snare located nearby and one paw missing from the carcass.
• A post-mortem was conducted under NTCA guidelines, a criminal case has been registered, a dog squad is on the trail, and investigators are assessing whether the body drifted from elsewhere.
• The site lies on State Forest Development Corporation land adjoining the reserve, an area where a headless tiger was found in 2023 and where STR has logged four tiger deaths in eight months.
• The discovery comes during a string of big-cat fatalities that prompted a PCCF warning to strengthen patrols; NTCA data list 36 tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh and 115 nationwide this year.