From Madhya Pradesh to Nepal: Tale of Madhya Pradesh’s most breeding female which went missing with two cubs

BHOPAL: T-13 – the well-known resident breeding tigress was last camera trapped with its cubs around Raikassa area in Madhya Pradesh’s Pench tiger reserve on February 28, 2012.
Forest officials conducted another camera trap session in the same region from December 2012 to February 2013 but neither tigress nor its cubs were found. To the shocker of MP forest department and environmentalist, the hide of T13 was confiscated far away in Nepal along with a consignment of other wildlife articles that were being smuggled to Tibet.
And now, almost three years after being informed about the seizure Madhya Pradesh STF (wildlife) have arrested Chika – who belongs to a traditional hunting tribe settled in Bihalari village of state’s Katni district.
He has been brought on transit remand from Nagpur jail. Official said Chika was arrested along with his gang member Mamru on June 6, 2013 by Nagpur’s local crime branch (LCB) and forest officials near Mansar, while they were dealing for a tiger skin with officials posing as customers.
During interrogation by Nagpur LCB in the alleged poachers had allegedly confessed that 20 tiger skins were trafficked from Pench-Kanha corridor and Vidarbha region in the before they got arrested. LCB had shared these inputs with MP officials, but no action was taken. MPSTF (Wildlife) became active against organised pooching syndicate with proactive actions taken by two officials – R P Singh and his subordinate Ritesh Sirothia. “We have got some clues that Chika was active around the region where along with other poachers. He is being interrogated for details,” said an STF officials wishing anonymity. He said by tracking the recent incidents of trafficking tiger products, a linear smuggling route can be traced between tiger bearing states in India to Nepal, Tibet and China.
From disappearance of tigress T13 to seizure of its skin at Nepal
On January 12, 2013, Nepal Police confiscated five tiger hides and seven sacks full of tiger bones from Nuwakot district while it was being taken to Tibet from Kathmandu via Rasuwa in a mini-truck (Ba 2 Kha 7504). The truck owner, Suk Bahadur Tamang of Chilime-4, and the driver Nakul Tamang of Gatlang-5 in Rasuwa were arrested. During initial interrogation, the accused revealed that the skins and bones were being transported towards the Chinese border passing through Langtang National Park. Thereafter, multiple raids were carried out in Kathmandu to arrest the kingpin of the racket, but he managed to escape. However, during raids at his house, police had seized 22 pieces of tiger and leopard skins including some embedded in garments, various items made out of ivory, over 100 canine teeth, four human skulls, and cash amounting to about Rs 40 lakh and 4,800 Chinese Yuan from his house.
Based on inputs from World Wildlife Fund (WWF- Nepal), a team comprising officers of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) were sent to New Delhi to Nepal for exploring possible Indian connection. These officers collected information and photographs of the seized skin that was subsequently sent to Wildlife Institute of India (WII)-Dehradun for detailed analysis. The WII scientists reported back to NTCA that one of the skins matches with the picture of T-13 – tigress of Pench Tiger Reserve. NTCA then forwarded the matter to WCCB, which sent an advisory to the MP forest department in May recommending registration of the offence and investigation with the help of CID and police department. The WCCB also reported that the sacks in which the tiger skins and bones were seized in Nepal had name and address of a known firm in MP. Both NTCA and WCCB had sent communication to the then chief wildlife warden P K Shukla, but to no avail. The matter was brushed under the carpet.