Don’t go for a kill: Madras high court cautions Tamil Nadu forest dept searching for ‘problematic’ tiger – Hindustan Times

Chennai News

The Madras high court on Tuesday had a word of caution for the Tamil Nadu forest department, which is trying to hunt down a “problematic tiger” in the state’s Nilgiris district. “Do not go for a kill immediately. It may not be a man-eater tiger,” the Madras High Court told the forest department, which is making efforts to capture the big cat identified as Mudumalai Division Tiger-23 or MDT-23, according to news agency ANI. The court also said there are only a few tigers left in our country as it was hearing two petitions challenging the forest department’s order to hunt down the big cat.

According to news agency PTI, one petition has been filed by Uttar Pradesh-based animal activist Sangeeta Dogra and another by the People for Cattle in India in Chennai. Meanwhile, the forest department clarified that their task was to capture the injured male tiger alive and not to kill it. Last Friday, Tamil Nadu chief wildlife warden Shekar Kumar Niraj issued an order to hunt the tiger under Section 11 (1) (a) of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The tiger has not been declared as a man-eater but as “problematic” and as an animal that has “become very dangerous to human life in the area”. The tiger has been present in the human habitation of Gudalur and has been preying on livestock too since July this year. According to the standard operating procedures for dealing with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human-dominated landscapes laid out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in January 2013, these declarations require field evidence.

Also read | Plan to catch Mudhumalai tiger alive even as it evades traps

The forest department continued their search for the tiger said to be over 12-years-of age in the Masinagudi area for the 10th day on Monday. It intensified the search for the big cat by bringing in two tamed elephants from Theppakadu camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and three dogs, including a native breed of Chippiparai. As many as 120 personnel from the forest department and special task forces from Kerala and Karnataka are also part of the search. The tiger has so far killed four people and more than 20 head of cattle, according to reports, but forest officials have confirmed two such human deaths.

(With agency inputs)

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/madras-hc-cautions-tamil-nadu-forest-dept-looking-for-problematic-tiger-101633420861709.html