A R Bharati, Deputy Conservator of Forests, termed the death of three-year-old tigress Rupali ``unfortunate but not unusual.''With the death of Rupali, the population of big cats at the safari has come down to five (two males and three females). The much-publicised safari spread over 50 acres was a brainchild of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and opened for the public on November 20 this year.

The post-mortem report stated that Rupali had died of `excessive bleeding and shock.' Bharati stated that Rupali was fatally attacked by five-year-old male tiger Kiran between 2 and 3 am on December 25. However, the carcass was found only when the first batch of visitors spotted the dead tigress at 9.30 am next day. Its face was covered with ants by then.

``There was lot of blood on her face which was severely scratched and there were bruisesbetween the hind legs as well,'' Bharati told Express Newsline, adding that fights between the tigers are frequent these days since it is a mating season and ``such killings occur in the Project Tiger areas as well.'' Dr P S Lonkar from the veterinary hospital at Parel, was not available for comment.

Forest officials revealed that a fortnight ago Kiran had attacked a white tigress Renuka. A frightened Renuka has since not turned up at her house cage for any meal. On Monday, forest officials trying in vain to entice her back but left some meat near her hideout. While animal activists wondered why the forest officials did not take precautionary measures, the park authorities stated they did not expect anything fatal to occur due these attacks.

Kiran has not been spotted since Rupali's death and efforts were on till Wednesday to bring him to his cage. However, Bharati said that the tiger picked up his portion of beef the previous night and sneaked away into the wilderness. At present only two tigress' are inthe cages and Bharati wants to play it safe by not letting them out for a while.

Bharati informed that in the wild one tiger needs a territory of 50 sq kms and the safari does not afford enough space. ``However since tigers are an endangered species, it is imperative to breed them in captivity and relocate them later in the forests.''