Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HyTiCos) has blamed the Telangana forest department for the death of the tiger whose skin forest officials seized on Saturday.
“Tigers will come to Telangana and die. Till now 15 tigers have come from Maharashtra to Telangana. Two of them are dead and 11 of them are missing,” said Imran Siddiqui of HyTiCos.
It has been confirmed that the tiger that died recently was killed in the Kawal Tiger Reserve, exposing the forest department’s failure to protect big cats. Wildlife activists complained lack of adequate security for tigers and worried also for other animals that exist in Telangana’s forests.
Mr Siddiqui said forest officials say the tigers had gone back to Maharashtra just to wash their hands of responsibility. “In 1996, the population of tigers in Telangana was 22. About 15 tigers have visited Telangana after 2014. Where have all these tigers gone,” he asked. “A tiger was electrocuted three year ago and now this is the latest incident. The forest department and the government do not have any concern for the Kawal Tiger Reserve.”
HyTiCos authorities say poachers are hunting down the visiting tigers thanks to neglect by the forest department. “In the latest case too, Telangana forest officials did nothing. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Delhi-based NGO TRAFFIC India received information about the tiger skin being carried away, but Telangana officials sitting here were clueless,” Siddiqui said.
HyTiCos alleges that Kawal Tiger Reserve is not being maintained like a tiger reserve; forest officials treat it like a normal forest. The Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra has a core DFO and a buffer DFO to exclusively look after it. “I have taken the issue of negligence of forest department in managing the reserve to the government and also to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), but there is no response. We are worried that if the same continues with the forest department, it would prove costly to the lives of big cats in Telangana,” Siddiqui said.
