In what came as a major setback to the tiger conservation programme launched by the Maharashtra Government, three tiger cubs were found dead, while another was recovered in a critical condition on Sunday morning in Saoli taluka of Chandrapur in Vidarbha region. The fourth tiger cub also died later in the evening.
The disturbing incident took place in the forest area of Pathri, near Navegaon. The tiger cubs that were found dead – as also the one recovered in a critical condition — were just three months’ old. The fourth tiger cub, undergoing treatment, died later in the evening.
Some people talking a morning walk noticed the three cubs dead and one in a critical condition in a wooded area located next to a stretch of road leading to Navegaon that falls Sindhewai forest range, which is close to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR).
The passers-by immediately alerted the State forest officials who rushed to the scene. They took into possession the carcasses of the three tiger cub sent them for post-mortem, while another tiger cub that was found in a critical condition also died in the evening.
Incidentally, Mungantiwar, who comes from Chandrapur district in eastern Maharashtra where the TATR is located, has been taking immense interest in promoting the tiger conservation and tourism in the State. It was he who had taken the initiative of inviting Big-B to become the Tiger Ambassador of Maharashtra.
Reacting to the death of four tiger cubs, Mungantiwar said: “We have ordered an inquiry into the cause of the death of four tiger cubs…Our efforts are on to track down the mother of these cubs. We are using camera traps for that”.
Expressing his shock over the death of four tiger cubs, Maharashtra state Board for Wildlife member Kishor Rithe told “The Pioneer” on Sunday night: “I suspect that these deaths might have taken place due to poisoning. Given that four tiger cubs, I have a strong reason to believe that the mother of the tiger cubs might have already been dead. Because, mother tiger does not abandon its cubs at as tender an age as three months”.
Rithe went on to blame the forest officials and guards in the area for their failure to keep a track of the happenings in the area. “The fact that it was some passers-by and not the forest guards who noticed the dead tiger cubs is sad reflection on the vigil being maintained by the forest staff in the area. This is because, it is mandatory for the forest patrol staff to cover every square meter of the forest area by foot”.
The death of four tiger cubs comes within a month after the death of a full-grown tiger in the buffer area of the TATR. “Even the earlier death of a tiger was brought to the attention of the forest officials was by passers-by and not by the guards. Both these incidents reveal that there has been a laxity in the functioning of the forest guards put on patrol duty”.
Saturday’s development should be seen in the context of the steady increase in the number of tigers that Maharashtra has seen in recent years. The tiger population in the state has increased from 103 in the year 2006 to 169 in 2010 and now to 190 in 2014.