A man-eating tigress was shot dead by a sharpshooter of the
C-60 anti-Naxal squad in Navegaon National Park in Maharashtra on Saturday 27
days after it first killed a woman in Bhandara district Gondia district deputy
conservator of forests S V Ramarao said the animal was not more than three
years old and was shot 20km from the Navegaon National Park boundary The park
is 130km from Nagpur.
“We first tried to tranquillize the tigress but missed, and
it charged at the team. In panic, one of the commandos, Suresh Atram, fired
nine rounds to kill the animal,” Ramarao said. State chief wildlife warden SWH
Naqvi had granted permission to shoot the animal on January 4. The elusive
tigress had killed a cow on January10 and was in the area. Camera traps were
deployed near the cattle kill on Friday to identify it.
At 10am on Saturday a team of 20-25 officials, volunteers
and commandos equipped with AK-47s went to check the cameras and established
the gender of the big cat. “Presuming that the animal might be somewhere near
the kill, we launched a search. One of the commandos sighted the tigress 50
feet away. Assistant conservator of forests Manohar Gokhale fired a dart to tranquillize
the tigress but missed. The tigress fried to come closer and a commando then
fired in the air,” said Sawan Bahekar, a team member and honorary wildlife
warden of
Gondia district. The tigress disappeared after the warning
shot. At noon, the teams returned to find that the animal had moved its kill
from the original spot. it was then decided that the rest of the team would
leave while only seven people — including three commandos — would stay behind
in wait of the big cat. Certain that the tigress would return, the team took
positions near the kill. At 115pm, the big cat returned. Assistant conservator
Gokhale shot a dart but missed. The tigress then came charging at him and
commando Atram fired five rounds. Even as the animal got injured, it kept
charging. Later, four more rounds were fired after which the tigress finally
collapsed.”
Courtesy:- Times of India
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