Bandipur Tiger Prince’s chopped off snout found with missing canines

The controversy surrounding the death of ‘Prince,’ the most photographed tiger in Bandipur, is refusing to die down with new angles for the death emerging on a daily basis. While the news of the tiger’s death has been hitting headlines since Apr. 2, environmentalists, wildlife enthusiasts and photographers have claimed that Prince was poached and did not die a natural death, a claim that has been denied by Forest Department officials who said that the famed tiger died due to starvation. Now as if to prove the claims of environmentalists and wildlife activists, the snout of the tiger with the canines missing has been found around 200 metres from the place where 14-year-old Prince’s body was found. Poachers have cut the tiger’s head and chopped off its four canines (highly valued in the international smuggling market) and the lower jaw bones. Prince was found dead on Apr. 2 at Lokkare forests under Kundkere Range of Bandipur. Forest Department, after analysing its stripe patterns, confirmed on Apr. 5 that it was Prince and it died due to dehydration and starvation.