scribed protocolalso make tigercannibalism more
noticeablethanotherwise.
Needlessto add,eachtigerdeathhasto beexamined
undera strictprotocolissuedbytheNationalTigerCon-
servationAuthority.Thisincludes closesiteinspection
forsignsofa crime,post-mortembya trainedwildlife
veterinarian,bio-samplingof differentorgansforfurther
toxicologicalandforensicinvestigationsattheState
ForensicLaboratory,Sagar,andtheSchoolofWildlife
ForensicandHealth, NanajiDeshmukhVeterinarySci-
enceUniversity, Jabalpur.Almost theentireprocedureis
videographedinthepresenceoftwoindependentwit-
nesses fromcivilsociety. $
RakeshShuklais a Research Officerat the
KanhaTigerReserve.SUDHIRMISHRAcies,cannibalismis a purelynaturalphenomenonthat
occursforvarious reasonsandunderdifferent situations.
Asfaras thecannibalistic behaviourof tigersat Kanha is
concerned,myempiricalknowledgeoftigersandtheir
wayssuggeststhatit is actuallyaggression-induced can-
nibalism,tigersbeinghighlyterritorialandextremely
intolerantof theirconspecifics.
Althougha ratheranthropomorphicexpressionfor
thesakeof understanding,thetiger’saggressionsome-
timesculminatesinthepartialdevouringofthekilled
conspecific, andthecannibalistic behaviourbringsthe
ultimatesensationofkillinga rivalanddefendinghis
territory.Besides,hightigerdensitiesinsomeareasof
Kanha,systematictigermonitoring,andprompt report-
ingoftigerdeathsthroughouttheyearundera pre-