The forest and police department of the Pandharkawda division is still clueless after three days of the brutal killing of a pregnant Mukutban tigress was reported on Sunday (25 April) as per a report published in The Times of India.

A four-year-old pregnant tigress with four fetuses in her womb was brutally killed by unidentified poachers in the Mukutban forest range. The forest department concealed the incident for an entire day.

The fetuses that were recovered during the post-mortem were nearly 60 days, and considering the 3-3.5 months gestation period of tigers, the tigress would have delivered the cubs next month. The carcass was 3-4 days old and bore seven injury marks. The poachers also chopped two front paws with the axe according to the report.

Yavatmal chief conservator of forest (CCF) SV Ramarao said, “As of now, there are no clues. On Wednesday, the superintendent of police Dilip Patil Bhujbal will himself visit the spot to know about the crime scene. We will soon zero in on the culprits.”

This is the 17th tiger death incident in Maharashtra in a little over three months. At least 11 of these deaths are due to poaching or under mysterious circumstances not proved yet.

The total of tiger deaths in the past three months in Maharashtra is very high compared to the overall deaths in a year in 2018 (20), 2019 (22) and 2020 (20).

The brutal killing of the pregnant tigress has drawn sharp criticism and hot debate over social media.