The tiger killing at the forest area in Badapur village in Uttar Pradesh bordering Uttra Khand on Sunday evening has baffled the forest department who till Monday evening were not able to ascertain whether it was the stray Moradabad tigress that has returned to kill or was it another tiger that has made the killing.
The marshy land near the forest area wherein the beast claimed the life of a thirty five year old man could not give clear indications of the pug marks. The Conservator Forest Moradabad who had gone to ascertain the fact for himself on Monday as to whether it was the same tigress or not was mobbed by infuriated villagers and forced to return. The forest team that went again to take stock of the situation was again forced to return by the agitated crowds. What added to the confusion is that the Kalagarh killing is now being claimed to have been the work of a tiger instead of the tigress.
It may be noted that the feline which had prowled into Moradabad a couple of months back has been putting the Forest Department on tenterhooks for the past several days. The tigress in the past one and a half months has made five killings in the Moradabad district and one in Bijnore with the modus operandi being to catch the victim unawares in the sugarcane fields. The animal was presumed to have returned to Uttrakhand after a killing was reported in the Kalagarh area. The last killing in Uttar Pradesh was on January 10 followed by a killing in Uttrakhand in January 14.
This fresh killing on Sunday has again brought the back the fear of the return of the tigress to the state. Even as media highlights eight killings by the tigress( one in Kalagarh), the official figures for the killings in Uttar Pradesh remain six with one injured. Chief Wildlife Warden Rupak De while talking to “The Pioneer” confirmed that the Forest Department has been unable to ascertain whether the killing had been made by the same tigress. “We have not been able to find out whether it is the stray Moradabad tigress, a tiger or a leopard which made the killing. Our entire team will take stock of the situation on Tuesday” said De. The Chief Wildlife Warden also said that the Kalagarh killing may have been carried out by a male tiger.
“We have got the feedback that the killing at the Kalagarh area was by a male tiger instead of the tigress as had been presumed. This Kalagarh killing was followed by the killing of an elephant calf in Uttrakhand. The pug marks that have been found of the latest killing are small wherein the officials are cannot clearly say anything. The area is very rich in wildlife” he said.
DFO Najibabad Praveen Raghav under whose jurisdiction the area comes where the last victim was taken while talking to “The Pioneer” said that the marshy area prevented them from ascertaining the fact as to whether it was the same stray Moradabad tigress. “ The area is marshy and the pug marks are not very clear which makes it very difficult to state anything for sure. We are still working on it” said Raghav.
Forest officials who have been on the track of the tigress for long said that they followed her steps closely to form any conclusion on her movements. DFO Bijnore Vijay Singh who has been following the tigress since the time it was attacking its victims in Moradabad , while talking to “The Pioneer” said, “ We have tracked her since the Moradabad killings because we were sure that she would move into Bijnore. She had followed the right track of the river moving towards Uttrakhand. But it is very difiucult to say that she had returned to make the kill because the area is teaming with tigers. The borders of Bijnore border the Kalagarh area and there could be any tiger which could have made the killing. We have continued with intense patrolling in the Afzalgarh, Garhi and other areas. On the face of it this does not seem the same tigress because it is at a certain distance from the place where it made its last kill” said Vijay Singh.
The only clear picture that emerged after the Sunday killing was that the fear of the feline had returned after a short gap of relief. For the Forest Department it means back to the task of tracking.