It seems from two recent developments that investigators in the State feel very comfortable to take prompt action against the killer of a cat but are wary of nabbing poachers of big cats.
While the Kharavel Nagar police here arrested an engineering student on charge of killing a domestic cat at Unit-IV a day back, forest officials closed investigation into the death of a big cat, “Mahaveer” in the Satakosia sanctuary saying an infection in the neck killed him.
Thanks to the callous attitude of the Forest Department which has often claimed working dedicatedly to protect the wildlife wealth of the State.
Though the State Government claimed that tiger T1 (Mahaveer) died due to an infection in its neck, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in its probe has clearly mentioned that the big cat was poached.
Notably, two tigers of different genders, Mahaveer and Sundari, had been brought from the Kandha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh on June 21, 2018 and released them in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve on July 7 for increasing tiger population in Odisha.
However, Mahaveer was found dead in the sanctuary on November 15, 2018.
“The preliminary investigation indicated that the death of T1 (Mahaveer) has happened due to poaching,” NTCA has informed Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.
However, the State Government appeared to have ignored the NTCA finding. No one is held responsible for the killing of the Royal Bengal Tiger in Satkosia.
Forest officials in 2018 had claimed that the male tiger died due to infection in his neck. There was no further investigation into the matter.
Expressing displeasure on the manner the tiger translocation programme was handled at Satkosia despite sufficient funds provided by the Centre, the NTCA has decided to withdraw the female tigress, Sunadari, which has been kept in an enclosure for a long time.
It has come as a major setback for the State which has received accolades from beyond the country for its effective handling of disaster management and in other sectors.
Animal lovers have started asking a question as to will the State Government take wildlife protection under its 5T initiative and fix responsibility with the officials for the safety of tigers, pangolin, elephants, crocodiles, turtles and other animals?