India loses 100th tiger in 2016
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New Delhi?: A seven-year-old tigress, Durga, died at the Thrissur Zoo in Kerala on Thursday, becoming the 100th Indian tiger to die this year.
Durga hailed from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala.
Dhanesh Kumar, the Divisional Forest Officer of the Wayanad sanctuary, told IANS that the tigress died during treatment at the zoo.
"We spotted her wandering outside the forest area since September 27. She seemed weak and was hunting goats and cattle calves. We caught her on October 9, took her to the zoo where she died on Thursday," Kumar told IANS.
He said while the tigress was not tagged, they named her Durga as she was caught on the day of "Durga Ashtami".
"She had an injured right front limb and a missing canine that could be due to a fight with some animal in the forest," Vinoy, the veterinarian doctor at Thrissur zoo, told IANS.
As per the Wildlife Protection Society of India's records, 100 tigers have died in India in 2016. Of this, 36 died due to poaching. The number of tigers who died in 2015 was 91.