Radio-Collared Tiger 'Heera' Found Dead, Deskinned in MP's Panna Reserve

The tiger had died after getting trapped in an electric wire spread on the boundaries of a farmer’s field.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The de-skinned body of a male radio-collared tiger, popularly known as Heera, on dispersal from Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), was found in Amdari village of Satna district on Sunday, 31 October.

Heera and Panna, two tiger brothers living in the buffer zone of PTR, were known for their brotherhood, a relatively unknown aspect of feline behaviour.

UK Sharma, field director of PTR, had said about them a few months ago, “There has not been a day they have not been together since February when their mother left them. They don’t only roam together but they also follow the same daily routine. These harmless cubs are favourite of villagers of Akola buffer area too, who have named them Heera and Panna,” Hindustan Times reported.

On Sunday night, Heera’s deskinned, decomposed body was found in the Singhpur range, around 70 km from the Satna headquarters, after which the villagers informed the forest officials.

As per sources, the 22-month old tiger had died after getting trapped in an electric wire spread on the boundaries of a farmer’s field.

After the death, a farmer named Ramprakash had removed the skin from Heera’s body with the help of locals and threw the other part of the body in the pond. The collar ID on Hira's neck was thrown on the bank of the pond.

PTR is home to more than 70 tigers, with 50 tigers above one year of age and around 22 cubs, Times of India reported.

Heera, who was coded as P234-21, was among the three radio-collared for satellite-based mapping of landscape and dispersals by the state forest department and Wildlife Institute of India-Dehradun.

The brothers had moved outside the tiger reserve on 24 July. The last signal received from Heera’s collar was on 13 October, an officer was reported as saying.

(With inputs from The Times of India and Hindustan Times.)