BHOPAL: In a horrifying incident, a male tiger aged around two years was found hanging from a tree trap in the Panna district of ‘Tiger State’ Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday morning.
While the state forest and wildlife authorities have begun a probe into the tiger’s killing, noted wildlife activist Ajay Dubey described it as the first incident of a tiger being hanged to death through an animal trap in the country in the last two to three decades.
He has also demanded a CBI probe into the entire incident as Panna and adjoining areas have long been notorious for organized poaching, owing to which Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) has become almost extinct of tigers since 2008.
According to Sanjiv Jha, forest conservator (Chhatapur) the death of the tiger was reported around Tuesday night, but it was only on Wednesday morning when the team reached the spot did they find a noose around the tiger.
The incident took place in the jungles near Vikrampur village of Tilgaon forest beat of North Panna Forest Division, which is just outside the protected area.
“Already the sniffer dogs from adjoining Satna as well as the Panna National Park are in action on ground, while a team of state forest department’s Tiger Strike Force too has joined the on-the-spot investigations. While the autopsy findings alone will establish the real cause of the tiger’s death, circumstantial details suggest that the tiger fell prey to the trap (clutch wire trap) put in place for other animals,” said Jha.
“We’re appealing to local residents to share with us any information about the tiger’s death. Their names will be kept confidential. We’re also trying to ascertain the dead tiger’s identity by matching its carcass’ picture with a database of tigers at Panna Tiger Reserve,” he added.
Ajay Dubey said that never before in his career of 20-22 years had he even heard of a tiger weighing around 200-250 kg being hung from a trap. "There have been incidents of tigers being killed by using electric current flowing fencing and other ground traps, but never this," he added.
"How can such incidents happen, when the Panna Tiger Reserve is well equipped with technologies, like night vision cameras, drones and satellite-collared tigers?" he questioned.
He added, "It’s quite possible that the tiger has fallen prey to a trap kept for some other animal, but only a specialized agency like the CBI, which has expertise in probing narcotics and wildlife crimes, can handle a case of such magnitude.”
As per the figures available with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) – the statutory authority under Project Tiger – Madhya Pradesh reported a maximum of 270 tiger deaths in the country between 2012 and July 2022, followed by 184 in adjoining Maharashtra and 150 in Karnataka.
As per the latest NTCA figures, Madhya Pradesh lost 42 tigers in 2021, while the tiger mortality count to date (including the tiger found hanging to death in Panna district on Wednesday morning) in the year 2022 stands at 32.