Nainital: An 18-month-old tiger, which was rescued from Kota range of Ramnagar forest division on May 1, 2017 died on Sunday. Officials of the forest department told TOI that the tiger succumbed to dehydration, injuries and infection. With this, the number of big cats which died in Uttarakhand this year has risen to nine.

Yogesh Bhardwaj, senior veterinary officer at Pt G B Pant High Altitude Zoo in Nainital, who was in the team which conducted the postmortem told TOI, “The tiger, when rescued, was severely malnourished. We found the cause of death to be ‘refeeding syndrome’ accompanied by cardiac arrest.”

Refeeding syndrome consists of metabolic disturbances in the body which occur as a result of starvation, severely malnourished condition or metabolically stressed condition, added the veterinarian. “The big cat also suffered from ‘autolysis’ which means the destruction of cells or tissues by their own body. The body starts feeding on itself,” said Bhardwaj.

On May 1, in an operation that involved 50 personnel, including those from the forest department and police, an injured tiger was rescued from Kota range of Ramnagar forest division in the vicinity of Corbett Tiger Reserve.

On May 2, 2017, a four-and-a-half-month-old tiger cub died after being rescued from the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

On April 14, 2017, a half-decomposed body of an adult tigress was found in the Dachauri range of Ramnagar forest division on Friday .The body was spotted by a patrol of the forest department. On March 31, 2017, a body of a 10-year-old male tiger was found in Supurdali range Dhikala Zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve.

Since the beginning of this year, deaths of eight adult tigers and one cub have been reported in separate incidents in the state due to causes ranging from territorial fights to alleged poisoning.

The spate of deaths has set alarm bells ringing among officials especially since the state has a population of just 340 tigers according to the last census conducted in 2014.

Earlier, a tiger which killed two people in the Bailpadav forest range of Ramnagar division on March 16 and was captured by using JCB died on the same day while being transported to Nainital Zoo. Post mortem revealed injuries due to fights with other tigers, septicemia and asphyxiation as causes of death of the big cat.

On February 22, 2017 a body of the tiger was found in Chhoi village of Ramnagar in Terai West forest division of Kumaon. A day earlier, on February 21, a big cat was found dead in the Chidiyapur range of Haridwar forest division.

On February 16, the half-decomposed body of a male tiger was found in the Bailpadav range of Ramnagar in Nainital district. Post-mortem reports suggested that the big cat, around 8 years old, died after being involved in a fight with another animal. Another tiger was found dead on January 19 and reason was cited as territorial fighting by the forest department.