Guwahati:
More evidence of why we need to come together to save the tiger.
Disturbing photographs show a five-year-old female Royal Bengal Tiger who was found dead near the Panchnoi river bordering the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park in Assam.
The tigress had not been injured. She was discovered less than a kilometer from the Park's boundary.
The entire area was searched for clues to her death, but so far, there has been no breakthrough in the investigation.
The post-mortem report states that she may have been poisoned, but further tests will be conducted.
A high-alert has been sounded in the entire National Park, believed to house 14 tigers.
In order to stop villagers nearby from killing tigers to protect their cattle, Orang National Park Management had introduced a spot-compensation for each cattle lost to a tiger. That policy seemed to be helping. But this latest incident has forest officials worried about whether villagers are really prepared to cooperate in new schemes to save the tiger.