The additional principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife), SK Dutt has directed the Corbett Tiger Reserve field director to conduct an inquiry into a complaint regarding the Corbett honourary warden Brijendra Singh explaining the use of a human dummy to deliver an electric shock to repel a big cat on a television news channel. The dummy was put in place to condition a tiger into desist from attacking humans as this big cat in Corbett was suspected of having lost the fear of humans. However, PFA Uttarakhand had alleged that by displaying the use of the dummy on the television, Singh had abetted the misuse of a new method especially by people in areas experiencing human-wildlife conflict.
In a letter to Dutt, the PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi had complained that on March 19, Singh gave an interview to a television news channel in which he explained the use of a dummy powered by a battery to deliver a shock to a big cat attacking the dummy. According to PFA, the easy availability of articles needed for using this method increases the probability of it being misused with the department not being in a position to prevent such misuse in all areas facing human-wildlife conflict. Stating that the department needs to act sensibly and responsibly for tackling human-wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand, PFA has stressed on the need for initiating strict action against Singh for displaying the use of a dummy powered battery on the television.
The APCCF SK Dutt forwarded this letter to the Corbett field director last week and sought a report after inquiry into the complaint. It is worth mentioning here that according to Singh, such a dummy had been placed at Kalagarh in Corbett to discourage a tiger from attacking humans as this big cat is suspected of having attacked humans after having lost the fear of humans. According to Singh, the human dummy was powered by a 9 volts DC battery with a high amperage which delivers a shock effective enough for conditioning the big cat to avoid attacking a human but not strong enough to kill it. Singh has already rejected criticism from PFA stating that this method had been used successfully in the past at Corbett and in Sunderban (West Bengal) to prevent tigers from turning into man-eaters.