(IN): Kaziranga tiger shot dead while feeding on forest dweller

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090324/jsp/northeast/story_10712318.jsp

 

Much ado to catch a ‘maneater’

- Bullet fired by forest guards hits vet; straying tiger killed in Assam OUR

CORRESPONDENT

 

Nagaon, March 23: Forest guards shot dead a “maneater” Royal Bengal tiger

today but not before the big cat had killed one person and injured two at

Sakmothi village, 50km from here.

 

A veterinarian from the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation

near Kaziranga, Prasanta Boro, was also injured when a bullet fired by the

forest guards accidentally grazed his right shoulder.

 

Nagaon divisional forest officer A. Ahmed said the tiger had attacked a

villager, Bipul Bora, when the latter passed by a bamboo grove in which the

animal was hiding in the Hatbor area of the village under Jakalabandha

police station at 10 this morning.

 

Another villager, Uttam Saikia, saw the tiger attacking Bora and rushed to

his rescue. The tiger then left Bora and “dragged Saikia inside the grove.

We found his body later,” Ahmed said. The tiger had killed another person in

Garubondah village on March 19.

 

On hearing of the tiger attacks, a team of forest guards accompanied by

police and the vet went to the village today to capture the animal, Ahmed

said. The team later sought permission from chief wildlife warden M.C.

Malakar to kill the tiger and the official issued a proclamation to that

effect.

 

When the team arrived in the village, it found a sea of humanity trying to

chase away the animal. The team located the tiger near Bharalichok Namghar

area of the village.

 

“The tiger, which was taking shelter inside the bamboo grove, suddenly

jumped at the IRB jawan (havildar Jamaluddin Ahmed),” the DFO said. The vet

aimed his tranquillising gun at the tiger, which was fleeing after attacking

the policeman.

 

At the same time, the forest personnel also opened fire at the tiger. One of

the bullets accidentally hit the vet, injuring him, and several hit the

tiger, killing it.

 

The vet, the havildar and the injured villager were admitted to Nagaon Civil

Hospital. Chintamoni Hazarika, a doctor at the hospital, said the policeman

had lost blood and his condition was critical. The vet has been shifted to a

private hospital in Guwahati. The forest department blamed the huge

gathering of people for the tiger’s attack on the havildar and the vet.

 

“There was total chaos with people milling around. We could have easily

tranquillised the tiger had there not been such a large gathering of people.

The tiger got scared and attacked the policeman,” the Ahmed said.

 

The tiger, which is believed to have strayed from the Kaziranga National

Park, has been spotted in the area for a week. The incident site is about

30km from the national park.

 

Kaziranga director S.N. Buragohain said the increasing tiger population

could be the reason for these animals straying out of the park into human

habitat.

 

A tiger census conducted by the Wildlife Trust of India with the help of

camera trapping technology has just been concluded in Kaziranga. The

findings have yet to be declared.

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Kaziranga-tiger-shot-dead/articleshow/4\

307728.cms

 

The Times of India, Kolkata Tuesday, March 24, 2009

*Kaziranga tiger shot dead while feeding on forest dweller* 24 Mar 2009,

0242 hrs IST, Naresh Mitra, TNN

 

GUWAHATI: A tiger, which had sneaked out of Kaziranga National Park and

killed two people and injured two others, was shot dead on Monday after

hours of panic and chaos in which policemen and forest personnel

allegedly fired indiscriminately in panic, hitting one of their own men. It

is not yet known who fired the bullet that killed the killer animal.

 

The shocking incident comes at a time when there is an uproar over 10 tiger

deaths in Kaziranga in the last three months. Most conservationists believe

they were killed by poachers.

 

The tiger gunned down on Monday was approaching old age, and in search of

easy prey. It entered Sakmuthia village in Nagaon — on the outskirts of

Kaziranga — and killed a man on March 19. It was trying to eat him when

villagers chased it away. The forest department sent a team to tranquillize

and capture the animal. After tracking it for three days, they found it

hidden in a bamboo grove in the wee hours of Monday. Realizing it was very

aggressive, they sought reinforcements.

 

But by then, local people had noticed the forest team and surrounded the

bamboo grove to avenge the villager’s death. The tiger had been terrorizing

them for weeks. By 8.30 am, there were over 1,000 villagers, armed with

machetes, knives, rods and shovels, screaming for blood.

 

Pandemonium followed for the next three hours. The forest guards and

veterinarians could only watch as the mob went berserk. In the chaos, they

could not get a shot at the tiger to tranquillize it. Police were called in

since it was an operation outside the national park. They tried to make way

for the forest guards but the villagers refused to budge.

 

The mob was bent on killing the tiger. One group ignored warnings and

entered the grove. One of them, Uttam Bora, attacked it with a machete. The

hungry tiger pounced on him, ripped off a chunk of his neck and started

feeding on him, as hundreds watched horrified. The gory sight sparked a

riot. Police moved in to try and control the situation. Blank shots were

fired to disperse the mob, which was preventing forest guards from going

anywhere near the animal to tranquillize it. In the melee, a bullet fired by

a policeman hit a Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) veterinarian, who was trying

to dart the tiger.

 

About 20 rounds were fired, say witnesses. But it had no effect on the mob.

They tried to storm the bamboo grove. The gunshots enraged the tiger and it

came out charging. A policeman was mauled severely; claws and canines dug

deep holes in his head and neck.

 

*Crowd frenzy forced hand of authorities

 

 

*Guwahati: The forest department tried to tranquilize the Kaziranga tiger on

Monday, but with the animal on the attack and hundreds fleeing in panic, it

was impossible. Finally, the tiger was shot dead a little after noon.

Chief wildlife warden M C Malakar said they were forced to order the

shooting as the situation had spun out of control. “The tiger had injured

two and killed a villager this morning. It is yet to be ascertained if it

was killed by our guards or by police,” said Malakar.

“The crowd went wild after Uttam Bora was killed by the tiger. They

pushed back forest guards and charged at police when they tried to disperse

them. Had it not been shot, the tiger would have been beaten to death,” said

Garga Mohan Das of WWF-India, who was part of the tranquilizing team.

WTI’s Prasanta Bora, who risked his life to dart the tiger, was hit by a

police bullet in the shoulder. Conservationists felt the tiger could have

been saved had there been better coordination between forest and civil

administration.

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Blame game begins after Kaziranga tiger death

 

 

Prithvijit Mitra | TNN

 

Kolkata: Kaziranga needs more space to accommodate its tiger population and

better equipment to protect them, conservationists said on Monday after an

adult male tiger was shot dead after killing a villager and injuring two.

Forest officials failed to clarify if the tiger had been shot by a guard

or by police. Guards at the sanctuary are under pressure from locals, making

it hard to act in emergency situations like the one that occurred on Monday.

Unless steps are taken immediately, it will be difficult to save straying

tigers at the forest, conservationists said.

“Whether police shot the big cat needs to be investigated. There should

at least have been an attempt to tranquillize it but I hear that forest

guards could not even get near the animal. It was probably felled by a

police bullet,” said conservationist Bittu Sehgal.

Tiger expert Fateh Singh Rathod held the forest department responsible.

“It should have been ascertained if this was the same tiger that had been

attacking people. Often, rumours are spread and villagers target innocent

tigers. Officials should’ve been more alert and guards should have been

posted in the area to prevent this disaster,” he said.

Kaziranga was supposed to have more zones added to its territory. But

though some areas have been brought within the forest area, the job is yet

to be done. “It was a five-year scheme that remains incomplete. Areas were

identified for inclusion but steps have not been taken to bring them inside

the forest,” added Sehgal, who visited Kaziranga last month after eight

tigers were discovered dead in the forest.

Experts said thou-gh such cases are extremely rare, forest guards have

shot tigers in emergencies. “Better crowd management could have saved the

animal,” said Pranabesh Sanyal, former field director of Sunderban Tiger

Reserve.

A Sunderbans tiger had to be killed in 1979 after it charged at

villagers. A black panther was felled at Cooch Behar in 1993. “Every tiger

lost is a high percentage of the population that remains. This is a tragic

situation and there seems to be no respite for the tiger in India,” said

conservationist Belinda Wright.

 

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