Tiger poached; problem tigress captured, released

NAGPUR/CHANDRAPUR: Friday was a bad day for tigers. While one tiger was poached, a problem tigress was captured and relocated to little known Chaprala wildlife sanctuary (134sqkm) in Gadchiroli.
Wildlife Institute of India (WII) team led by Dr Bilal Habib, Dr Parag Nigam and a couple of researchers tracked the problem tigress of North Brahmapuri in Kosambi forest and captured it around 1.30pm. The animal was 100 metres in jungle from the road.After capture, the big cat was fixed with a radio-collar.
TOI on October 22 had reported chief wildlife warden issuing permission to capture the problem tigress that had killed one villager from Saigaon and injured 3 since September 23. There was resentment among locals. Since then rigorous monitoring was done by the forest department with the help of NGOs. On Friday, the tigress was captured with the help of an elephant and handed over to forest department.
By late evening, the tigress was released somewhere in Chaprala. “We have teams to monitor the tigress round-the-clock. NTCA protocol was followed for the operation. Tigers have been already using Chaprala and its adjoining forest areas,” said wildlife spokesperson & DFO GK Vashishtha.
In another incident, an adult tiger was poached in agriculture fields of Dhanapur in Kothari range in Central Chanda. The carcass was buried after electrocution on November 1. Acting on simultaneous tip-offs to forest department and Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), officials located the carcass with the help of dog squad and exhumed it. Sandeep Vaidya (20), a farmer involved in the act, has been arrested.
Vaidya is a resident of Vyankatpur in Gondpipri tehsil. With crop ready for harvesting, he had put wires along the farm and electrified it with 440 volt power supply line meant for agricultural pump. “Electrocution threat to wildlife has increased in recent times,” said Nitin Desai of WPSI.
Officials claimed tiger must be chasing prey and in the process got electrocuted on November 1 night. Vaidya, on November 2, discovered the dead tiger and quietly buried it. Vaidya took help of eight local friends to dig a 3-feet-deep pit in his farm to bury the tiger. Central India director of WPSI. Veterinary doctors will conduct post-mortem of the tiger on Saturday morning as per NTCA protocol in forest nursery in Chandrapur.
This was 9th tiger death in Chandrapur district this year. Besides, three cubs in FDCM Balapur range remain missing.