"Chiku" one of the most photogrphed tigers in India breathed his last at the Sajjan Biological Park in Udaipur on 10 May 2023. Also known by his alloted T-104 tag,Chiku was a beautiful male tiger who remained in the spotlight for a long time for allegedly being a man-eater.  He breathed his last just a day after being shifted from Ranthmbore National Park.

The cause of death is still not clear, but it is believed that the animal died due to over doze of the Tranquilizer. The District Forest Officer (DFO) Udaipur, Ajay Chittora confirmed that the postmortem reports have been recieved and they indicate multi organ failure. However, some samples have been sent for lab testing and further insight into the root cause will be determined by the sample reports, he added.

The DFO earlier said that Chiku was brought to the Biological Park on Tuesday, 9 May, where he was kept under observation. He was later fed and his behaviour seemed normal.  However, his health detroited overnight and he passed away in the morning, The samples have been taken after the body was shifted from captivity for postmortem.

The 6 year old man eater Tiger T-104 was shifted to Udaipur after his attacks led to the death of 3 persons at the Ranthambore National Park. As per information received from the forest deprtment, the Tiger was tranquilized on Tuesday evening at around 6.30pm, after which he was shifted to captivity and blocks of ice were kept inside the cage to counter the heat.

Brief History of T-104

T-104 was declared a threat to human life by the special committee constituted for the study of Tiger's nature. After being declared a man-eater and dangerous for humans he  was kept at an enclosure at Bid Naka area of Ranthambore and later the tiger was shifted to Udaipur after getting the permission from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Two men, viz. Ram Chand Mali and Pintu Saini of Karauli were killed by T-104 on 30 July and 12 September 2019 respectively.  A woman was also attacked and killed by T-104 earlier in February 2019.

Tiger T104 was born to Laila (T41) and male tiger T-74 in the Berda zone inside Ranthambore National Park. During the erly years, the father T-74 had begun to push T-104 out of his mothers range.

The Capture of T-104

The ferocious T-104 was captured by forest officials in September 2019 after a 7-day search operation. He was captured in the Chinwari forest region of Karauli in the evening hours on 18 September 2019. Forest officials had to deal with the furious villagers who were agitated after the tigers third human kill. The officials hurried across the difficult terrain but finally did manage to capture the tiger. After its medical examination, the tiger was locked in the STR cage and sent from the forest to Sawai Madhopur enclosure. The tiger was declared a man-eater by the forest department under pressure from villagers and public representatives.