Sanatan, divisional forest officer, Terai Central division said, "The tiger which died was just 5-6 months old male cub. The big cat must have deviated from its path to the railway tracks from adjacent forest in Tanda range." The body of the tiger was cremated after the post-mortem in a medical facility in Haldwani.

The body was spotted by the locals at around 2pm after which the police and the forest departments were informed. The team of the forest officials rushed the spot to seize the body of the big cat for post-mortem and later cremation to prevent any foul play. "The post-mortem confirmed the death due to collision with train which resulted in fatal injuries. The body was cremated immediately after the post-mortem," added the DFO.

The terai arc is home to about 22% of the Indian wild tiger population. Earlier, in October 2015 meeting was organized by the state forest department, Global Tiger Forum and National Tiger Conservation Authority last month in which detailed plan was discussed about protection of tigers in territorial divisions and unprotected areas other than national parks. Total six deaths of tigers in these areas were reported in last three years including one this year.

India was home to more than 40,000 tigers at the turn of the last century but shrinking of habitat, lack of proper food and shelter, increasing human intervention and encroachment and excessive poaching pushed the species to the brink to extinction.

Uttarakhand became the state with the second-highest density of tigers, with 340 of the animals as per the census by National Tiger Conservation Authoritry released this year, in January. Karnataka has the largest number of tigers, 406. With an increase of 113 tigers, Uttarakhand has registered a 50% growth in tiger population since 2010, when the state had 227 tigers. Total number of tigers across the country was estimated 2226.