The Rajaji national park authorities nabbed two Van Gujjars who have confessed to poisoning the tiger in Gohri range of the national park in February. The duo was presented in the court of the Pauri judicial magistrate after which they were sent to judicial remand. Meanwhile, a week after a tigress was found dead in the Dechauri range of Ramnagar forest division, the body of a tiger cub was found in the same range on Friday.
A male tiger was found dead in Rajaji on February 7 in the vicinity of a wild boar carcass. The national park deputy director HK Singh said, “We nabbed two Van Gujjars - Gani and Saddam Hussein, who are brothers, on Thursday and presented them in the Pauri judicial magistrate’s court from where they were sent on judicial remand. The duo has confessed to having poisoned the tiger in retribution as the big cat had attacked and killed their buffaloes a couple of times. We have proof of their having poisoned the tiger,” he said. Wildlife activists have been calling for rehabilitation of Van Gujjars living inside Rajaji to mitigate such situations.
Meanwhile, the carcass of a cub tigress, about nine-month-old, was found in Dechauri range of Ramnagar forest division on Friday.
The chief conservator, Kumaon circle, Paramjit Singh said, “The carcass was found in Dhamola area. The post-mortem revealed that the cub had a dental ailment which prevented it from opening its jaws which in turn led to starvation. There was not an ounce of fat on the body as the cub had not eaten for quite some time and had died about 30 hours before the body was discovered. We had already sent a sample from the tigress found dead last week for DNA analysis to Wildlife Institute of India and will also send a sample from this cub to the institute for the same. Only the DNA test results will show whether the cub was that of the tigress found dead last week.”
He added that there were neither cub pug marks anywhere near the body of the tigress found last week nor were there any signs of her having been a lactating mother. The divisional staff has been directed to search for the mother of the cub found dead on Friday and the department hopes to sight her in a couple of days.
PFA, Uttarakhand has demanded disciplinary action against the Ramnagar divisional forest officer accusing him of carelessness towards this area and the possibility of residents of nearby settlements poisoning the big cats.