Prince, Bandipur Tiger Reserve's majestic, famous big cat no more

New Delhi: Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve was home to the city's most beloved tiger – Prince – the most photographed and dominating big cat, who died of natural causes, forst official confirmed on Wednesday.

The carcass of the 13-year-old tiger, who went missing a few weeks earlier, was found on Sunday evening in the national park of Bandipur

With Prince's death, the number of tiger deaths in just three months of 2017 is believed to have reached 30, out of which 22 are natural deaths and eight poached, according to the individual data collected by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

In 2015, 82 confirmed natural deaths of tigers were recorded.

"It took three days to confirm the dead tiger was Prince... we matched the stripes on the carcass to those of Prince from our database and these were over 90 percent matched," T. Heerala, Director of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told IANS.

Explaining how the natural process takes it course, Heeralal said the area occupied by Prince had already been claimed by another male tiger.

"The tiger had marked its territory over an area of about ten to twelve sq km... it was a dominant male," the director said.

According to Heeralal, despite being a dominating cat who defended and held his territory for over seven years, Prince was not an aggressive tiger.

"It was very tourist friendly... we have not named the tiger which has taken over Prince's territory," added the director.

The carcass was burnt in the forest area as per the norms.

(With IANS inputs)