Live-wire fence around farm electrocutes tiger, sambar deer in Maharashtra's Pench reserve
One adult tigress and two sambar deer are believed to have been killed after being electrocuted by a live-wire fence set up around a private farm. The owner of the farm has been arrested.
An adult tigress was electrocuted in Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra on Friday. Forest officials said a live-wire fence was set around a private farm in the buffer area of the forest. The owner has been arrested.
Two sambar deer were also found charred to death by the high-voltage wire. The incident was detected around 5:30 pm. This is the second tiger death recorded in 2017. A decomposed body of a tiger was found on January 3 at Nagarhole Reserve in Karnataka. The cause of its death is still unknown.
A forest official said, "One large female tigress and two sambar deer were found electrocuted in an agricultural field near Badegaon village on January 13. This comes under Khapa Range of Nagpur Forest division."
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"The post-mortem will be done on January 14 as per National Tiger Conservation Authority protocol," he added.
As per figures provided to the Parliament, 98 tigers died in India in 2016, a 25 per cent rise over the previous year when 78 deaths were reported. Madhya Pradesh led with 30 deaths, Karnataka reported 17 and Maharashtra 15.
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