Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 10 (IANS): The carcass of a male tiger has been found floating in a canal in the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Bahraich.

No external injury marks were found on the tiger carcass, official sources said.

The tiger carcass, which was floating on Saturday under the Chaudhary Charan Singh (Girijapuri) Barrage built on a canal connected to the Ghaghra river in Uttar Pradesh.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Akashdeep Badhawan, said it was spotted by villagers around 3.30 p.m.

The locals immediately informed the forest and irrigation departments. A forest department team was rushed to the spot to bring the carcass to the Katarniaghat forest range office, he said.

Prima facie, the tiger was around four years old and there were no external injury marks on the carcass.

A panel of veterinarians will conduct a post-mortem examination to ascertain the cause of death, he added.

Senior Indian Forest Service officer Ramesh Kumar Pandey, an expert in tiger conservation, said as per the standard operating procedure of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), every tiger death is considered as unnatural unless proven otherwise.

To prove a tiger's death as natural, one has to rule out all other angles like poaching and poisoning, he explained.

It is very rare for a tiger to be found dead in water because big cats are good swimmers, he explained.