Around three weeks after she first made a human kill, the state forest department managed to capture a tigress who had spread fear in Chandrapur.
The tigress, who was darted and tranquilized by forest officials in the buffer area of the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve (TATR) on Wednesday, was later sent to the Gorewada rescue centre in Nagpur, said senior forest officials.
Officials admit that after three human deaths--of which two were attributed to this feline-- they were faced with massive public pressure to capture or eliminate her. The tigress, a young adult, had also injured two humans, while on Sunday, a cowherd managed to save himself by the skin of his teeth by climbing a tree.
This led to fear in the TATR buffer and parts of the adjoining areas in Chandrapur like Shindewahi and Shivni as the tigress appeared in public in broad daylight.
Officials then secured permission from the chief wildlife warden to eliminate the tigress in case she could not be captured alive.
The tigress had made her kills on January 13 and 25 and injured two people on January 24 and 26.
Finance and forests minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has issued orders for the animal to be captured and warned of action against forest officials in case of lapses.
Officials had said in case the options of physical restraint using a cage or chemical restraint (tranquilization) did not work, they would have to eliminate her.
The TATR and Chandrapur territorial area have a healthy tiger ecosystem. According to last year’s Phase IV camera trapping exercise, these habitats have 61 and 43 tigers respectively, the highest in Maharashtra, which officials admit has caused “overpopulation” and conflict.
National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)’s statistics show that tiger mortalities in Maharashtra between 2010 and 2016-end stand at 65 due to reasons ranging from accidents, poaching, natural causes and electrocution. This month, two tigers have died, including one due to poaching.
Man- animal conflict in Chandrapur
September 2016: A tigress in the Bramhapuri forest division kills a woman, injures three others, is then captured and relocated to Chaprala wildlife sanctuary in Gadchiroli in November.
July 2014: A tiger is shot dead by Chandrapur police sharpshooters in a conflict situation.
In around 10 years, Maharashtra has seen 339 humans killed by wild animals, while 5,137 were injured in animal attacks between 2008-09 and October 2016.
