Nilgiri tahrs in Munnar. File. Image for representation purposes only.
| Photo Credit: Jomon Pampavalley
One of the Nilgiri tahr that had been fitted with a radio-collar in December of 2024 was preyed on by a tiger in the Mukurthi National Park (MNP), the forest department confirmed on Sunday (October 12, 2025).
According to officials, the animal had been radio collared and was being monitored by the forest department, who were gleaming valuable information about the habits of the species, with efforts continuing to ultimately reintroduce the species into habitats from where they have become locally extinct.
However, on Friday (October 10), officials noticed that the animal had not moved for a considerable period of time, prompting them to launch a search for the individual. Forest officials confirmed that the carcass of the tahr was found near the Devil’s gap stream in MNP in a patch of Shola forests with the radio-collar nearby, with strong indications that the animal had been killed by a large carnivore.
A postmortem was then conducted, confirming that the animal had been hunted and killed by a tiger. The forest department also noticed signs of the tiger less than a few hundred meters away from where the carcass was found and placed cameras around the area to confirm the presence of the animal.
On Saturday, officials confirmed that the tiger that is believed to have killed the tahr was found near the site of the kill.
Published – October 12, 2025 04:43 pm IST