MUMBAI: A bunch of citizens came out in Bandra on Sunday and "
roared out aloud" urging the government not to kill a tigress. The '
March For Avni' was organised at Carter Road in the evening where citizens from various walks of life held a march to urge the authorities not to kill the tigress, T1, also known as Avni, and her cubs.
The adult tigress T1 of
Pandharkawda forest area near Nagpur is said to have killed 13 people in the last two years in this region. On September 4, the Nagpur division bench of high court had allowed the state forest dept to take measures regarding the issue as forest officials had declared her a man-eater, along with her two sub-adult cubs, T2 and T3. The apex court also upheld this order to shoot T1, if all other means fail.
"The tigress Avni has not ventured out of the forest. It is the villagers who are trespassing into the forest and then encountering tigers with with unfortunate consequences. That does not mean that the state must shoot down the animal and her cubs in their jungle," said activist Anand Siva.
Many animal lovers demanded that Avni be safely captured along with the cubs and translocated. Earlier, the forest department had hired a professional hunter from Hyderabad to shoot the tigress, but he had to return emptyhanded. "Villagers hunt in the forest and set up electric fences in which leopards and tigers often get trapped. This human interference with the wild must be stopped," said Siva.
Citizens held a protest march in Bandra for the tigress and her cubs.
