After recovery of a carcass of a tiger from the Debrigarh sanctuary in Bargarh district, a hue and cry has been set off.

While the State Forest Minister and some of the senior officers claim that the carcass belongs to a leopard, there are others in the same department who claim it to be that of a Royal Bengal Tiger.

After the department found the carcass from the forest getting information from common people and media, it started inquiring into the matter. But by that time, the body was totally decomposed and it was difficult to ascertain the species. Hence, a postmortem was done in the local veterinary hospital at Bhattli and the doctor there was also unable to give the correct report as the body was totally misfit for a right postmortem, sources from Bargarh and Bhattli said.

However, the forest staff who have seen the decomposed head of the tiger opined that it belongs to a RBT as the size of the head is bigger than that of a leopard. Further, the attempt of the officials to burn the body of the animal before reaching a conclusion has also enhanced the suspicion.

“We have found four nails of the animal from the spot, but that also can’t help us to make any comment,” said ACF of Bargarh ML Sharma.

Many senior officials of the department are now bee-lining to Bargarh and the spot inside the forest. But nothing concrete as to the species of the animal has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has also sought a report from the PCCF as to the incident and species of the animal killed. The local Forest Department has also sent some remaining of the tiger to Dehradun for further autopsy there and ascertain the species.