MYSURU: Despite serious questions being raised over alleged violations of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) SOPs and guidelines during the operation, forest staff have captured yet another tiger in Chamarajanagar district. It was captured on Tuesday late night in the Kalpura region of Chamarajanagar taluk after a prolonged combing operation that had initially been launched to track a tigress and her four cubs.
However, forest officials ended up capturing a different adult male tiger, raising concerns over whether the animal was correctly identified or established as a conflict tiger before being tranquilised and captured.
The forest department had been conducting intense searches for the past 10 days after tiger movement was reported near human habitats. The operation covered at least seven villages Nanjedevanapura, Udigala, Veeranapura, KK Hundi and surrounding areas involving over 100 forest personnel.
Five trained captive elephants were deployed to track and assist in the operation. On the night of the capture, the tiger was spotted moving through agricultural land in Veeranapura village, where forest officials tranquilised it and captured it.
However, wildlife experts and conservationists have expressed concern over the method of the operation. As per NTCA SOPs, the capture of tigers is permitted only after establishing repeated conflict, immediate threat to human life, or caused loss of life or livestock. In this case, there was no official confirmation that the captured tiger was involved in any of these.
More importantly, the NTCA standard operating procedures discourage night-time capture operations except under unavoidable circumstances, citing risks to the animal and personnel, as well as the possibility of misidentification. The tiger in question was reportedly tranquilised during night hours, raising questions about adherence to these mandated conservation protocols.