Big cat deaths: Foresters look for cover, minister waits for report
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JABALPUR:
Confined to the enclosure, sick and thirsty as the temperature soared
above 44 degrees celsius on Sunday, death must have been painful for the
adult tigress whose decomposing body was recovered in the Bandhavgarh National Park
on Sunday. Four-year-old tigress was one among the three orphaned cubs
kept in the area especially marked since 2009 and was soon to be
collared and released into the wild.
Eighteenth death within a span of two years, the last occurred just a week ago from Bandhavgarh has enraged wild life lovers and sent forest officials looking for cover. "Every tiger is precious but especially tragic is the loss of a tigress of breeding age" Belinda Wright, executive director of wildlife protection society of India (WLPSI) declared.
Talking to TOI the noted activist cautioned the park authorities to be extra vigilant during summer months. Wrights' warning comes in the midst of local reports that the tigress was served stale meat instead of a calf. A carcass was thrown into the enclosure - a usual practice to cut costs and pocket the amount. This coupled with paucity of water finally claimed her life.
Meanwhile jolted into a damage control mode the park administration has placed employees under suspension and now as the clamor for a better accountability and decisive action grows across the state , it is time for another fevered round of the predictable pass the buck game.
Forest minister Sartaj Singh sounded contrite about the incident when Times of India contacted him on Monday. He was apprised of the unfortunate incident he admitted. He is upset he was awaiting a report about what exactly happened. Only when he has the report in hand then he could be in a position to talk about the preservation of tiger and related issues?, he declared.
When reminded that since two reports- one about the tigers cubs death on May 12 in Bandhavgarh and the second relating to a casualty in Pench Tiger Reserve on April 22 -were still pending, the minister hemmed and hawed. Let the findings come to me, he repeated.
Director of the park Sudhir Kumar said that Gajraj Singh the attendant of the enclosure and V Kartikeya the forest ranger have been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty. So was it lack of water or was food poisoning as locals allege which killed the big cat ? Kumar sounded clearly evasive and non committal." It would be premature to hazard any guess at this stage" he said faithfully quoting the minister verbatim.
However, "the very fact that the animal lay rotting for nearly 50 hours before anyone spotted the body showed the scandalous level of monitoring and supervision" wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said. He also slammed the government for picking up lowest functionaries for punitive action while patronizing the bigger sharks, which has become a trade mark practice in MP.
Eighteenth death within a span of two years, the last occurred just a week ago from Bandhavgarh has enraged wild life lovers and sent forest officials looking for cover. "Every tiger is precious but especially tragic is the loss of a tigress of breeding age" Belinda Wright, executive director of wildlife protection society of India (WLPSI) declared.
Talking to TOI the noted activist cautioned the park authorities to be extra vigilant during summer months. Wrights' warning comes in the midst of local reports that the tigress was served stale meat instead of a calf. A carcass was thrown into the enclosure - a usual practice to cut costs and pocket the amount. This coupled with paucity of water finally claimed her life.
Meanwhile jolted into a damage control mode the park administration has placed employees under suspension and now as the clamor for a better accountability and decisive action grows across the state , it is time for another fevered round of the predictable pass the buck game.
Forest minister Sartaj Singh sounded contrite about the incident when Times of India contacted him on Monday. He was apprised of the unfortunate incident he admitted. He is upset he was awaiting a report about what exactly happened. Only when he has the report in hand then he could be in a position to talk about the preservation of tiger and related issues?, he declared.
When reminded that since two reports- one about the tigers cubs death on May 12 in Bandhavgarh and the second relating to a casualty in Pench Tiger Reserve on April 22 -were still pending, the minister hemmed and hawed. Let the findings come to me, he repeated.
Director of the park Sudhir Kumar said that Gajraj Singh the attendant of the enclosure and V Kartikeya the forest ranger have been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty. So was it lack of water or was food poisoning as locals allege which killed the big cat ? Kumar sounded clearly evasive and non committal." It would be premature to hazard any guess at this stage" he said faithfully quoting the minister verbatim.
However, "the very fact that the animal lay rotting for nearly 50 hours before anyone spotted the body showed the scandalous level of monitoring and supervision" wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said. He also slammed the government for picking up lowest functionaries for punitive action while patronizing the bigger sharks, which has become a trade mark practice in MP.
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