Bhopal, May 21 (IANS) A tigress which died in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh National Park Wednesday succumbed to internal haemorrhage, confirming apprehensions that it was hit by a vehicle, officials said Friday.
“The autopsy report of the tigress suggested death due to internal haemorrhage caused perhaps by being hit by a vehicle,” said Madhya Pradesh Chief Wildlife Warden R.S. Negi.

Veterinary expert A.B. Srivastava, under whose guidance the autopsy was performed, said: “The tigress had suffered multiple injuries probably after a vehicle hit.”

Officials of the park, located in Umaria district, were Wednesday informed about the tigress lying in an injured condition near a water source. However, the big cat which looked distressed died within a few minutes of the forest department team reaching the spot. Its cubs are now being looked after by the wildlife department.

“The post-mortem also revealed that the tigress was around eight years old, and not three years as presumed earlier,” he said.

Investigations are on to locate the vehicle which hit the big cat, Negi said. “The forest department has sought the help of the police and forensic team to locate the vehicle.”

Negi said eight tourist vehicles had entered the park Wednesday as per the gate entries and a forensic examination of the vehicles would be carried out.

Besides the tourist vehicles, the forest department’s vehicles that had entered the park would also be checked, since there are no eyewitnesses to the incident.

Meanwhile, a forest department team is keeping an eye on the tigress’s cubs.

The cubs are aged around 5 months and are being closely monitored and special care would be given to them, Negi said.

Last year, too, three cubs were shifted to an enclosure inside the park after their mother died.

This is the second incident of a tiger being killed in the reserve due to a vehicle- hit within a year. On April 24, 2009, a male tiger was hit by a tourist vehicle and died subsequently.