Tigress electrocuted in Bandhavgarh buffer zone
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BHOPAL: Adding to the woes of the Madhya Pradesh government trying to revive the big cat population, a tigress was found electrocuted
at Badwara range of Katni forest division which falls in the
Bandhavgarh National Park's buffer zone on Sunday. This is the third big
cat killed in an accident in the state in the past few months.
Forest officials in Katni said that the tigress came in contact with an 11-KV high tension line, tethered to the ground, while attacking a cow. Forest department officials suspect that it was a wire trap to kill the animal.
A tigress was electrocuted in Kathotia forest range some 50 km from here after coming in contact with live wires set up as a trap allegedly by poachers few months back while a one-year-old tiger cub was killed after it was stuck in a pit and paralyzed in the same forest range.
The charred carcass of the tigress and the cow were found tangled along with the broken transmission line by a forest guard, said sources, and were swollen and infected with maggots suggesting much time had elapsed since their death. The regional power distribution company confirmed that power tripped on Friday at 3 pm in the forest area, suggesting that the incident might have taken place 48 hours ago.
"It seems an accidental death. More details would be known only after the autopsy," said P K Shukla, principal chief conservator of forest. He ruled out poaching.
The spot was two km from the Khitoli range of Bandhavgarh National Park and Bagdari village - a forest village comprising 50 tribal families.
Recently, 830 sq km of this territorial forest area falling in Katni division was notified as a buffer zone of Bandhavgarh National Park, where 59 tigers were reported in the last census.
The forest department blames the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd for not maintaining the high tension transmission lines passing through its forest areas. "We'll ask the discom to speed up work to lay underground cable," said Shukla.
"Five years ago, a sloth bear was similarly electrocuted in the same area. Shifting the lines underground will avert such incidents," said C M Khare, of Wildlife Protection Society of India. Divisional forest officer M K Khan, among the first to reach the spot, maintained that the death was an accident. "No body parts of the tigress was found missing. Engineers of the electricity department who reached the spot conformed that one of the line was broken," he said.
Forest officials in Katni said that the tigress came in contact with an 11-KV high tension line, tethered to the ground, while attacking a cow. Forest department officials suspect that it was a wire trap to kill the animal.
A tigress was electrocuted in Kathotia forest range some 50 km from here after coming in contact with live wires set up as a trap allegedly by poachers few months back while a one-year-old tiger cub was killed after it was stuck in a pit and paralyzed in the same forest range.
The charred carcass of the tigress and the cow were found tangled along with the broken transmission line by a forest guard, said sources, and were swollen and infected with maggots suggesting much time had elapsed since their death. The regional power distribution company confirmed that power tripped on Friday at 3 pm in the forest area, suggesting that the incident might have taken place 48 hours ago.
"It seems an accidental death. More details would be known only after the autopsy," said P K Shukla, principal chief conservator of forest. He ruled out poaching.
The spot was two km from the Khitoli range of Bandhavgarh National Park and Bagdari village - a forest village comprising 50 tribal families.
Recently, 830 sq km of this territorial forest area falling in Katni division was notified as a buffer zone of Bandhavgarh National Park, where 59 tigers were reported in the last census.
The forest department blames the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd for not maintaining the high tension transmission lines passing through its forest areas. "We'll ask the discom to speed up work to lay underground cable," said Shukla.
"Five years ago, a sloth bear was similarly electrocuted in the same area. Shifting the lines underground will avert such incidents," said C M Khare, of Wildlife Protection Society of India. Divisional forest officer M K Khan, among the first to reach the spot, maintained that the death was an accident. "No body parts of the tigress was found missing. Engineers of the electricity department who reached the spot conformed that one of the line was broken," he said.
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