Bengaluru: Seems like the controversy surrounding the killer tiger is refusing to die down despite the tiger being shot dead on Sunday night.
Amidst demands for probing the decision on the tiger release after it was captured in Chikkamagaluru in November following its predation and killing of a woman, the experts are calling for a detailed inquiry into the failure of the radio collar that the killer tiger was carrying around its neck for more than one month.
Mr Vinay Luthra, the Chief Wildlife Warden told Deccan Chronicle that the failure of the radio collar equipment led to the death of both the woman and the tiger.
The radio collar around the tiger’s neck failed from the very moment the tiger was released in the Talewadi Range of the Bhimghad Sanctuary on November 19, but the NGO members claimed that the tiger was being tracked by the VHF signals after the GPS communication had failed to establish.
Further the tracking team failed to pinpoint the location of the tiger, even when it occasionally intruded some villages and fields in broad daylight.
“If we could have tracked the tiger through radio collar signals we could have captured it alive after it showed signs of not settling down in the forest, by hunting down livestock in the nearby villages around Bhimghad Wildlife Sanctuary,” he said.
Mr S.G. Neginal, retired forest officer and author of wildlife books, came down heavily on the forest department for having allowed the relocation of the tiger in the first place.
“This is not done. We end up killing an innocent tiger and also losing two human lives. It’s strange that the tiger was not released in the Bhadra Tiger Reserve which is located so close to the site from where the tiger was first captured. Most importantly, the forest department failed miserably to judge the release location.
Even if the department was allowed to release the tiger in Anashi-Dandeli Reserve as initially planned, that could have gone wrong too.
If you observe the landscape where the tiger was first found, it is a mix of grassland and shola forests.
The forest type in both Anashi-Dandeli and Bhimghad is totally opposite to what the tiger was used to. Hence, it kept wandering and started attacking anything that came in its way,” he explained.
Noted conservationist Belinda Wright feared that the present situation of the tiger would worsen the much needed bonding between the forest and those who reside on the fringes.
“We cannot afford to lose the support of local populace that resides beside the Protected Areas. These are the masses who will preserve the forests of India in the future.
The forest officials must ensure that the large carnivores are not released back into the forest if they have killed a human being, even if it’s a case of accidental killing,” she said.
Experts are now being called to investigate the radio collar equipment which is with the police department. “The forest department must make the issue of the radio collar public so that there is transparency.
Also, under the Telegraph Act, what was the frequency allotted and what is the licence procedure that the department had gone through? This must be made public,” they demanded.
