Tiger suffers agonising death after being left suspended in the air by wire trap

At least 36 tigers have died in India’s central Madhya Pradesh state that boasts of six tiger reserves

Representational image: Bengal tiger numbers are on the up in India (Getty Images)

A tiger’s carcass was found hanging from a wire at the Panna Tiger Reserve, located in India’s central Madhya Pradesh state.

Authorities found the carcass on Wednesday and told local media that the tiger was likely caught in a wire trap laid by poachers in the area.

An image and video of the tiger suspended from a wire generally used in motor bikes was widely shared online and prompted anguish from wildlife lovers, shocked to learn of the tiger’s excruciating death.

“We are probing the circumstances under which the tiger was killed,” Sanjeev Jha, a senior forest conservator at Panna tiger reserve, was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.

“We have taken the samples. Veterinarians have conducted the autopsy to find out the cause of the death.”

The tiger was just two years old.

Forest officials, along with a dog squad, were sent to the spot as soon as the carcass of the tiger was found.

The state’s chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, called an emergency meeting and sent a top state forest department official to the spot.

As many as 36 tigers have died in Madhya Pradesh that has six tiger reserves: Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Panna and Sanjay Dubri.

The Panna reserve, spread across 542.7km, is home to around 80 big cats.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s state chief, VD Sharma, said strong action would be taken against those involved in the death of the tiger.

The opposition Congress’s spokesperson in the state, KK Mishra, hit out at the government in a tweet.

“Now tigers are also killing themselves in the state,” he said.

“This is the first case of such a tragic unnatural death of a young tiger in Panna. We are making our best effort to nab the poachers,” said Mr Jha, the senior forest conservator.

Meanwhile, an unidentified senior officer told journalist Deshdeep Saxena, who runs a wildlife blog, that even if the intention was not to kill a tiger, the placing of the wire trap was still “illegal” as it was done to kill an animal.