(IN): Five tigers lost to poaching, accidents

December 7, 2007

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*Five tigers lost to poaching, accidents

* Swati Thiyagarajan

Friday, December 7, 2007 (New Delhi)

Five adult tigers, all in their breeding age, have either died or have been

killed across India during this week.

Three tiger skins and bones were found in a raid in Allahabad in Uttar

Pradesh on Wednesday. A tiger was run over by a train in UP on Wednesday and

a suspected man eating tiger shot dead in Tadoba, Maharshtra last Friday.

The only silver lining in the cloud hanging over wild tigers in the country

is that the raid lead to the arrest of tiger king pin Shabeer Hasan Qureshi.

''It is huge, he is the biggest buyer of tiger parts and over 600 tiger have

been attributed to him in the last decade and we got everyone - poachers,

couriers and the buyers,'' said Belinda Wright, Director, WPFI.

The dead tigers were all from within project tiger sanctuaries in the

country like Kanha, Katherniaghat and Tadoba.

Now it seems that the alleged man-eater shot in Tadoba could be the wrong

tiger.

''A boy has now been killed barely 15 km from where the shot the tiger, so I

am afraid there are huge doubts as to whether the right tiger was killed,''

said Belinda.

A recent survey of tigers in the country by the Wildlife Institute of India

has put tiger numbers at an all time low.

While Project Tiger failed in the long run, the establishment of the

National Tiger Conservation Authority also seems futile.

A wildlife bureau to tackle wildlife crime, which was passed in parliament

earlier this year, is yet to be set up. Maybe it is time to start looking

for a new national animal as we certainly seemed to have failed the tiger.

--

United against elephant polo

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