Maneka wants all attempts to trap male cub of tigress Avni to be stopped, writes to Maharashtra CM

NEW DELHI: Demanding an urgent stop to all attempts by forest officials to trap the male cub of tigress Avni and let him adapt to its natural habitat, minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi has written to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Tigress Avni, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 13 people in Maharashtra in the past two years, was shot dead in Yavatmal in November last year.

The Union minister warned that “any unnecessary human intervention or disturbance will impede the survival of the cub.”

“I understand that the female cub of Avni has been found and captured and is being released in a ten hectare area. With proper supervision, she will hopefully be able to survive in this place. However, I believe that the forest officials are still making attempts to trap the male cub. I strongly suggest that such attempts are not only futile but counter productive from the standpoint of conservation and must be stopped,” Gandhi has stated.

“Left alone, it will adapt to the habitat and may do well with the existing prey base in Yavatmal. The cub is not a maneater and has no history of attacking humans and its capture cannot be justifiable on any legal ground,” Gandhi stated in her letter.

In her letter to the Maharashtra CM, she also called for urgent measures to prevent electrocution of wild animals including tigers due to electrification of farm fences at night in the region.

“Also, I am deeply concerned with the mortality of tigers in Maharashtra due to contact with electrified fences. Farms around tiger habitat and protected areas are fenced for protection from wild animals. These fences are typically electrified, especially at night and a number of wild animals including tigers come into contact with it and perish,” she adds.

Gandhi goes on to point that the four radio collared tigers have all died in Maharashtra and countless others whose deaths due to electrocution have not even been reported. “This is a clear case of poaching, covered under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, but reporting and investigation in such cases is never done. As is learned from the ground the farmers are switching on the electricity in the fences only at night. The deaths of wild animals have also typically happened only at night,” she has pointed.