(IN): Pesticide brews trouble- Kaziranga blames Tata Tea for tiger cub’s death

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080527/jsp/guwahati/story_9325735.jsp

 

Pesticide brews trouble

- Kaziranga blames Tata Tea for tiger cub's death

OUR CORRESPONDENT

 

*Guwahati, May 26:* A Tata Tea-owned garden faces legal action by Kaziranga

National Park authorities after the Forensic Science Laboratory here

confirmed the presence of pesticide residue in the carcass of a cattle " used

as a bait " to kill a tiger at Hatikhuli tea estate in 0January.

 

The director of the forensic laboratory, R.P. Gohain, today confirmed that

pesticide residues were found on the cattle carcass that resulted in the

death of a tiger cub at the Rongagora division of the tea estate, owned by

the Tata Tea's North India Plantation Operations.

 

" The tiger cub died after consuming the pesticide-laced cattle carcass, "

Gohain told *The Telegraph *today.

 

The carcass of a Royal Bengal tiger cub and another in semi-conscious state

were found near a carcass of a cattle laced with pesticides in January this

year.

 

The two cubs were believed to have consumed the cattle carcass, resulting in

the death of one of them.

 

The carcasses of the dead cub and the cattle were sent to the forensic

laboratory to ascertain the presence of pesticides.

 

The other tiger cub, found in a semi-conscious state, is at present being

reared at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near

Kaziranga.

 

The director of Kaziranga National Park, S.N. Buragohain, said a case has

already been registered against the tea estate and legal action would be

taken under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

 

" We were awaiting confirmation from the forensic laboratory, " he said.

 

The confirmation about the presence of pesticides in the cattle carcass

comes a day after the park authorities recovered a leopard skin and a huge

quantity of tiger bones from the Amoni area.

 

Two persons have been picked up in this connection.

 

The park authorities are also contemplating a proposal to acquire a portion

of the tea estate since animals from Kaziranga stray into these areas

frequently.

 

The garden management, however, said they did not have anything to do with

the death of the cub.

 

A few labourers and even poachers could have been involved in the incident,

it said.

 

" Even villagers spray pesticides in paddy fields and there are many small

tea growers in the area who are used to these chemicals. Why blame us

directly? " the manager of the tea estate, Joydeep Singh, said when

contacted.

 

 

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