Maharashtra's Forest Department has come under fire from wildlife activists over the shooting of tigress T1, nicknamed Avni. They allege several norms were flouted in the operation and have also raised multiple questions over the manner in which she was killed on Friday night.
The tigress was held responsible for 13 human kills in the Yavatmal region and 200 forest officials were involved in a massive search operation since September. The Forest department says the priority now is to locate her two cubs, who are a year old and will not survive without their mother.
The major bone of contention among conservationists is that controversial Hyderabad-based hunter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan was enlisted for the operation, despite protests. His son, Asghar, shot Avni at close range.
Wildlife conservationist Kedar Gore says involving trigger-happy hunters sets a bad example and should have been avoided.
Defending the forest department, AK Mishra, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) explained that the dart fired at T1 was prepared by him. "The person who shot the dart has handled it in the past. The vet was also located at a close distance," he said, adding that Asghar, who conducted the kill was authorised to do so.
A local activist says the dart seems to have been artificially (manually) embedded in the carcass after the shooting. "A wildlife veterinarian should have accompanied the team," he said. "As per National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) protocol darting is not done at night, which shows they wanted to kill her."
Mishra told DNA that Avni was shot at close range near Borati village on Borati-Warud-Ralegaon road. "At around 11pm, we received a message about presence of the tigress at a village bazaar. Our team reached there and shot a dart, she charged at them. So they had to shoot her from 8-10 meters at a point-blank range in self-defence as they were in an open gypsy," he said.
Sources say Avni crossed the road and waited for a while before charging at the team after being darted. "They could have attempted to dart and tranquilise her again in this intervening period," a source said.
"Prima facie," says a senior officer present at the post-mortem, "the NTCA protocol seems to have been flouted in terms of a trained vet not accompanying the team. The dart was found at a superficial level in the body; it had not entered the muscle. However, since darting depends on a number of factors, it is not possible to ascertain whether she was darted when alive or if it was pinched into her skin after death. Samples have been taken for forensic tests."
Sarosh Lodhi, founder member of CLaW (an independent forum of wildlife enthusiasts from Maharashtra) says Avni's case has been a major conservation failure on all counts. "The entire episode reeks of lapses and failures in managing conflict scenario and her death only shows how incompetent the state Forest department is in handling conflict situations," he says.
Compiled by DNA-Research N Archives