Tigress Avni’s progeny dies a week after being released into wild

A female progeny of Tigress Avni or T1, who was shot dead in 2018 after being responsible for 13 deaths in over two years, died while being treated for injuries following an internecine fight at a forest in Maharashtra, officials confirmed on Sunday. 

The three-year-old offspring was named PTRF-84, was on March 5 released in the Pench Tiger Reserve, Nagpur after over two years of efforts of “re-wilding,” officials added.

However, the feline was retrieved from the wild on March 8 after it received injuries on its right foreleg following an internecine fight, PTR’s Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director Ravikiran Govekar said in a release.

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The big cat was kept in an enclosure at Titralmangi in the PTR and was being monitored and treateddaily by veterinary experts, he said.

On Saturday evening, the animal’s health deteriorated and the veterinary team advised to shift it to a medical facility at Gorewada in Nagpur.

“Preparations were immediately made, but the tigress died around 10 pm on Saturday,” the official said.

The autopsy of the carcass will be carried out as per standard operating procedures of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), he added.

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The feline was brought to the PTR as an orphaned cub on December 22, 2018, following a rescue operation. After that, the animal was housed in 5.11 hectares of enclosure for over two years, Govekar earlier said.

After it was released into the wild earlier this month, the radio-collared tigress was being monitored round- the-clock using VHF (very high frequency) tracking and satellite telemetry, he had said.

Later, following confirmation of its fight with another tigress last Monday, veterinarians opined that the injury may affect its movements in the forest.

Hence, a decision was taken to tranquilise it after consulting principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden, the official said.

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“This kind of an interaction with another tiger after the release was anticipated and anemergency retrieval plan was already provided in the original release plan submitted to the NTCA,” he said.

Over the last two years, as part of the ‘re-wilding’ lessons, the tigress spent most of its time in the enclosure, learning to hunt, the official added.

Its mother, tigress Avni, believed to have been responsible for the death of 13 people in Maharashtra, was shot dead in Yavatmal district in November 2018 as part of an operation.