In what came as a huge relief to the local population, a tigress on prowl in the forests of Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district of eastern Maharashtra was captured by the state forest department officials on Wednesday.
Within days after it mauled a 60-year-old woman to death in an agricultural field near Andharwadi and Pattanbori villages, the two-year-old sub-adult tigress named
T2C1 was captured near the Tipeshwar Wildlife
Sanctuary. Ahead of its capture, the tigress was being routinely spotted through camera trap images along Andharwadi, Koparmandvi, Vasari and Kobai villages in Pandharkawada Forest Reserve.
Apart from killing an elderly woman, the man eater had also attacked another person, but he escaped with injuries. The tigress had also attacked cattle.
In a well-planned operation, the tigress was darted and captured successfully by the state forest officials on Wednesday, following the protocols of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The tigress is likely to be housed at Gorewada Rescue Centre or another transit treatment centre in Nagpur.
As the news of the capture of tigress reached Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray , who is a wild life photographer, congratulated the Maharashtra Forest Department for the successful operation.
Invoking the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, Maharashtra’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Nitin Kakodkar had ordered the capture of the tigress.
“As many as 29 cameras were also installed in the area. On September 4, Subhash Kayatwar was chased and attacked at Mauje Vasari, injuring him severely.
Then on September 19, Lakshmibai Dadaje from Andharwadi was attacked and killed unfortunately. The tigress had also attacked cattle. Finally she had been captured successfully,” Uddhav said.
Wednesday’s capture of the tigress at Pandharkawada brought back the memories of the killing of an elusive tigress in November 2018.
It may be recalled that after weeks of elaborate and meticulously planned hunt, the elusive tigress T1, better known as Avni of Pandharkawada hills - that had mauled as many as 13 persons to death during the past two years in Yavatmal district in Vidarbha region in Maharashtra – was shot dead on November 3, 2018.
Six-year-old Avni was shot dead by sharp shooter Asgar Ali, son of famous sharp-shooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan from Hyderabad, at compartment number 149 of Borati forest under the jurisdiction of the Ralegaon police station.
The then BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Devendra Fadnavis and then Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had come in for severe flak over the killing of the tigress. Even Uddhav, who was then part of the Sena-BJP government, had come down heavily on Mungantiwar for the killing of the tigress.