Hyderabad: Forest officials nabbed five people who were transporting a tiger’s skin in Adilabad district on Saturday evening. Officials suspect that the tiger was hunted down about 10 months ago at the Kawal tiger reserve in the state.
Kawal tiger reserve field director Sharavanand said the tiger had been seen in camera traps in November 2017 in the reserve. It had not been seen since.
Speaking to this newspaper, district forest officer in-charge Mr K. Damodar Reddy said, “We have got pictures of the tiger in November 2017. Based on its skin, we are assuming it was a male aged around three to three-and-a-half years.”
The accused were identified as Y. Satish, 40, of Warangal, H. Kishan, 46, of Adilabad, Prakash, 45, belonging to Nirmala and Rajendra Kumar, 36, and Ch. Naresh belonging to the capital.
One of the accused is a priest and another a cook. It was suspected that the tiger skin was being used to perform puja.
Usually, tigers from Tadoba reserve in Maharashtra visit Kawal where there are no resident tigers. Officials assumed the tiger had returned to Tadoba. They believe it used to hunt on the Telangana-Maharashtra border.
Forest officials acted quickly on receiving a tip-off from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and TRAFFIC India NGO, which focuses on wildlife trade issues.
Representatives of WCCB and TRAFFIC India reached Adilabad district on Saturday morning and a joint operation was launched to trace the gang.
The forest officials stopped a car (AP29 BE 1211) in which the skin was being transported. On finding the skin, they nabbed the four people in the vehicle. Another person was trapped late on Saturday night. The tiger is a Schedule 1 animal and the offenders would get seven years in jail.
