BHOPAL: A Bhopal-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey has written to the central government, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the state forest department, complaining about the killing of an elephant and burning of the remains in the buffer zone of the Badhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh.
The wildlife activist has mailed pictures along with the complaint made on January 11. In the complaint, Dubey has mentioned about receiving information from local sources about the killing of elephant and burning of its remains in the jungles near Chhatwa village of Shahdol district, which is part of BTR’s Panpatha buffer zone.
“The incident alleged by locals puts a question mark on the state of security, patrolling and vigilance by the forest department in the BTR, which has already been on top in terms of tiger mortality and poaching in the state. The concerned area where the incident happened has been notorious in the past for poaching of wild animals, so the accountability of the concerned forest officials should be immediately fixed followed by strict action against them,” Dubey wrote in the complaint, while seeking a high level probe by the NTCA.
Importantly, the BTR administration had in October-November 2022, informed through an official statement about its rescue team having traced an elephant lying unconscious in Jamunia forest beat of the Panpatha forest zone and subsequent medical treatment and making the tusker stand with the support of a JCB machine. But the BTR had did not disclose the consumption of what would have left the elephant unconscious.
When contacted by this paper, the BTR deputy director Lovit Bharti said, “The BTR teams have failed to find any evidence that corroborates the allegations. Still, the bony remains have been sent for detailed forensic analysis. Only after the findings can we conclude anything".
‘No evidence found to corroborate allegations’
When contacted by this paper, the BTR deputy director Lovit Bharti said, “The BTR teams have failed to find any evidence that corroborates the allegations. Still, the bony remains have been sent for detailed forensic analysis in Dehradun. Only after the findings of the forensic, can we conclude anything about the bones belong to which animal.’