Attacked by villagers, tiger dies during botched rescue operation in UP’s Pilibhit

PILIBHIT: An adult tiger, which was attacked and injured by villagers in Pilibhit, died during a botched rescue attempt by forest department officials who fired two tranquiliser darts at the feline, instead of one. The five-year-old big cat had strayed from Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Gajraula area. The tiger was suffering from three wounds, fractured ribs and internal haemorrhage.The autopsy was conducted at Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly on Monday and its report will arrive in three days.
While the forest department officials claimed that the animal died in the attack, wildlife activists said that it could have been saved.
After receiving information regarding the death of the male tiger during the process of tranquillising, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Monday nominated a representative to be present during the post-mortem for assessing the causes leading to tiger death and submit an independent report.
“Further action will be taken after receiving the report,” said the MoEF spokesperson.
He said the NTCA informed the field director of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Raja Mohan, to ensure compliance of the Authority’s standard operating procedure dealing with straying of tigers.
Meanwhile, Dr BM Arora, president of Association of Indian Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians, said, “Preliminary information about the external and internal injuries of tiger undoubtedly indicates that it was beaten by iron bars. The broken rib would have caused haemorrhage in his liver. Because the tiger was already struggling with serious injuries and internal haemorrhage, he possibly could not tolerate the heavy dose of tranquilizer and consequently died within a few minutes after being hit by darts.”
Arora wondered as to how the forest officials failed to notice the injured condition of the tiger by its movement. “It was quite possible that two darts injected overdose of tranquilizer in tiger’s body,” he said.
The tiger died 15 minutes after being hit by the two darts on Sunday evening.
Kaushalendra Singh, a Lucknow-based wildlife activist, said, “I suspect that the tiger’s death was an outcome of overdose of tranquilizer. The tiger was hit with two darts, one after another.”
Wildlife activists have written letters to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, principal secretary of forest Sudhir Garg and also to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for setting up a high-level probe into the death, and demanded stringent action against the guilty.
On his part, deputy director of PTR, Naveen Khandelwal, said the tiger collapsed during the period it was under medical observation. “The tiger had three wounds in its trachea, as a result of which it died,” Khandelwal said.
On being asked about cause of the death, field director of PTR, H Rajamohan, who was present in IVRI during the post mortem, said, “It will become clear only after autopsy report comes in three days.”
“It would have been far better if the forest officials had thrown a net over the tiger to trap him after hitting him with one dart,” Arora said. India has 2,967 tigers in the wild, according to the latest tiger estimation report for 2018.