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Poachers kill tiger, skin it in AP zoo

In a gruesome incident, poachers killed a one-year-old female tiger, slit her head and peeled off her skin in Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad on Wednesday night.

Conservator of the zoo, B Trinadha Rao, said four employees were suspensed in connection with the incident, pending an inquiry.

"The incident came to light only on Thursday when an animal keeper on duty went to tiger safari park to release the five tigers from their cages in the morning," he said.

Rao did not rule out the possibility of the 100-kg tiger being sedated before being dragged out from her cage and said the carcass had been sent to Veterinary Biological Research Institute here for post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death.

The conservator said, "The animal keeper noticed that the lock of animal house of the tiger park was broken open and carcass of tiger Sakhi floating in the nearby water tank."

The animal keeper, the watchman of the park, forester and zoo sergeant were suspended, he said.

The incident comes close on the heels of death of a Nandankanan Zoo tiger due to exhaustion during transit at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.

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