Daijiworld Media Network – Chamarajanagar

Chamarajanagar, July 2: In a chilling development barely a week after the poisoning of a tigress and her four cubs, forest authorities in Chamarajanagar district have now recovered the carcasses of 20 monkeys, raising fresh concerns over animal cruelty and forest safety.

The bodies were discovered along the Kandegala-Kodasoge road within the Gundlupet police station limits on Wednesday. Forest and police officials suspect poisoning, noting that the monkeys were likely killed at one location and dumped elsewhere to avoid immediate detection.

While investigations are ongoing and further details remain unclear, this mass death has sent shockwaves through the region, coming close on the heels of the widely reported tiger poisoning case in the Male Mahadeshwara Hills forest range.

In the earlier incident, five tigers, including a tigress and her four cubs, were found dead in the Meenyam forest area, Hoogyam range. The forest department cracked the case within days, arresting three villagers—Konappa, Madaraju, and Nagaraju—all residents of Koppa village.

Investigations revealed that the tigress had killed a cow belonging to one of the accused and dragged it into the forest. The accused allegedly laced the cow’s remains with poison, which the tigress and her cubs later consumed, leading to their deaths.

The shocking confession by the accused prompted the remand of all three men to forest department custody for three days by Judge M Kavyashree.

Following a massive public outcry over the forest department's lax oversight, the Karnataka government placed three senior forest officials on compulsory leave. It was noted that the tiger carcasses were found just 100 metres from a road and 800 metres from an anti-poaching camp, yet officials failed to detect them for days. Compounding the matter, reports emerged that anti-poaching staff hadn’t been paid for the last three months.

The back-to-back incidents have raised serious questions about the state’s wildlife protection mechanisms, with activists and citizens demanding stronger enforcement, regular staff payment, and accountability at senior levels.

The forest department is now under pressure to intensify monitoring and crack down on such deliberate wildlife killings, which continue to threaten the fragile ecosystem of Karnataka’s forest reserves.