Nagpur tiger caught
in ‘jaws of death’

Chandrapur: A subadult tiger was killed and a full-grown one was seriously injured after being caught in poachers’ traps in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) on Thursday. The injured tiger was rescued early Friday morning and shifted to Nagpur for emergency treatment.

Forest officers have concluded that Bawariya type jaw traps were used to poach tigers in the Palasgaon range of TATR’S buffer zone. This type of trap is used by Bawariya poachers who hail from Haryana.

They had laid three traps, two on separate tracks approaching a water hole and one on the bank of the waterhole itself. They also laid out thorny bushes The poachers laid out thorny bushes besides tracks and matted the waterhole’s bank with bamboo to ensure that tigers use the clean tracks where the traps were set besides the tracks and matted the bank with bamboo so that big cats use the clean tracks where the traps were set. “Tigers have the habit of walking on clean path in the jungle. Of the three tigers that approached the waterhole on Wednesday, two were trapped while the third escaped fortunately,” a forest officer said.

Anti-poaching experts said though the traps were of Bawariya type, it is likely they were installed by Baheliya poachers, who come from the Katni area of Madhya Pradesh.

“In the latest trend, Bawariya gangs often supply the traps for poaching to Baheliyas,” said Nitin Desai, central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), who visited the spot on Thursday night.