BHOPAL: A wounded tiger, said to have been shot by poachers at Uchera in the Panna-Satna forest belt earlier this week, died at the Van Vihar National Park here on Friday.

The State Forest department’s wildlife wing has decided to stuff it for display at the Van Vihar National Park’s Interpretation Centre for educational purposes.

Van Vihar Assistant Director A.K. Khare said that the idea was to warn the people that tigers were facing extinction.

He said that the wounded tiger was located in the contiguous forest of the Kalda Pahad in Panna district and the Parasmania Pathar (plateau) of Satna district last week. It was tranquilised and brought to the Van Vihar National Park by the Panna National Park authorities.

On February 18, a surgery was performed to extricate a bullet from the animal’s spine, which had paralysed its hind legs.

Mr. Chandra Shekhar Dube of Care for the Wild said that it would be difficult to conclude at this stage whether or not the tiger’s habitat also included some area of the Panna National Park.

Leopard killed

A leopard was also shot dead near Panna on Saturday. Panna National Park director G. Krishnamurthy told The Hindu on Saturday evening that a villager who shot the leopard in the territorial forest of South Panna division bordering Damoh district was arrested. The Chhattarpur Conservator of Forest had rushed to the spot for investigations.