JAIPUR: Death is the word doing the rounds in Ranthambore as far as tigress T-17's sudden, mysterious disappearance is concerned. It is nearly a month since the tigress, also called Sundari, went missing from the reserve leaving its three one-year-old cubs literally in the lurch.

However, it is yet to be conclusively proved whether she had died as her body could not be traced even by the 110 strong force of foresters deployed to trace her. The fact that numerous camera traps in the reserve have not been able to locate her also makes chances of her being alive slim.