Mutilated carcass of tiger in Karnataka's MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary

Months after a tigress and its four cubs were poisoned to death in Karnataka's MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, a mutilated tiger carcass was found in the sanctuary.

Officials suspect the tiger died on October 2.

Wildlife activist Joseph Hoover, who is closely tracking the case, said, "It is intriguing why the poacher(s) hacked the tiger into three parts and scattered it. No bullet wound was found during the postmortem. All body parts were found intact. How did the tiger die? We were told that there was blood in the water hole where the hind portion of the tiger was discarded."

Hoover wondered how the poachers could access the sanctuary. Karnataka forest minister Eshwar Khandre has formed a team to investigate and provide a report within eight days. The tigress and four cubs were poisoned by local herders, triggering massive protests from activists. The Supreme Court's Central Empowered Committee had, in its report, said that the Karnataka government should declare the sanctuary a tiger reserve.

The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change has earlier recommended that MM Hills be declared a tiger reserve. However, the state government is reluctant because it houses a temple. Once the sanctuary is upgraded as a tiger reserve, devotees can't visit the temple, as the reserve becomes an inviolate area for tigers.

"But the Karnataka government has been reluctant to proceed with the formalities as certain religious heads have objected to it being declared a tiger reserve. Protection can improve only when MM Hills is upgraded as Karnataka's sixth tiger reserve. Until Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shows the political will to declare MM Hills a tiger reserve, the government should appoint forest guards and watchers and fill the vacant posts," Hoover said.