In a shocking development, a radio-collared tiger ‘Shrinivas’ was found electrocuted in the jungles of Kothurna of Nagbhid Range of Bramhapuri forest division on Thursday, nearly a week after the wild cat had gone missing from the Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur in eastern Maharashtra.
The forest officials found the body of the two-and-half-year-old Shrinivas ( tiger T10) buried in the agricultural field of Bhagwan Irpate and his son, who have confessed to have buried the tiger after the wild cat was electrocuted after touching the electrical fence set up around their field.
The forest authorities had on April 20 found the radio-collar of ‘Shrinivas’ 200 meters from the spot where the carcass was recovered.
Shrinivas is the son of iconic then seven-year-old tiger—Jai — whose official name is UK-T1 — that had gone missing little over a year ago.
Jay’s disappearance from the sanctuary had come to the forest authorities’ notice after a new radio collar attached to it to the Indian Wildlife Organisation (IWO) got disconnected from the satellite on April 18, 2016. Jay was the star tiger of the Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary, located 58 km away from Nagpur.
Confirming the recovery of the carcass of the tiger, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) and spokesperson of the Forest Department’s wildlife wing Girish Vashisht told The Pioneer “We have registered a case of poaching against Irpate and his son. The two have admitted to them having buried the deceased tiger after he was electrocuted.”
According Vashisht, the farmer and his son should in the first place not have set up an electric fence around their field, where they are growing vegetables.
“After the electrocution of the tiger, the father and son have removed the radio collar and thrown it some 200 meters from the spot where the animal was buried. We had found the radio collar on April 20,” he said.
Expressing unhappiness over the tragic death of Shrinivas, former Standing Committee member of National Board for Wildlife and Satpuda Foundation President Kishor Rithe said “It is a sad incident. Though it can happen with any other tiger, either collared or without collar, certainly the incident of this kind could have been prevented especially if the tiger is collared”
“We cannot blame the IWO researchers who had fixed the radio collar for the electrocution incident. All I can say is that there are intrinsic flaws in the radio collaring and monitoring of the tigers in Vidarbha forests. The repeated disappearances of radio-collared tigers prove that something had gone amiss in the whole process. The in-charge resear-
ches should be asked to carry out such an activity with more seriousness and greater responsibility in future,” Rithe said.
The State Forest department has assigned the job of putting the radio-collars to the IWO.
Shrinivas and Bittu (tiger T9), said to be of the same age group, had been fitted with radio collars in March 2016. Given that the batteries drained out somewhere between December 2016 and January 2017, the forest authorities fitted them with new high-tech collars a few months ago. However, the authorities found Shrinivas’ radio-collar on April 20 and the wild cat was no longer traceable.
According to Rithe, Shrinivas was the third tiger that had gone missing in the Bramhapuri forest area during the last one year.
The State forest authorities have so far not located Jay. So much so that on August 24, 2016 State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and requested him that the investigation into Jay’s disappearance be handed over to the CBI. Mungatiwar’s demand had come in the wake of intense speculation that Jay might have fallen prey to poachers.