Don’t kill tiger, it may not be man-eater: Madras HC – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Mudumalai tiger — codenamed T23 — against which ‘hunting’ orders have been issued may not be killed as both the Tamil Nadu government and the Madras high court made it clear there were no plans to shoot down the animal.
“Don’t go for the kill immediately. It may not be a man-eater, it may have been misunderstood,” said the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu on Tuesday. The state government, represented by government pleader P Muthukumar, said there was no plan to kill it. Muthukumar said, “Efforts are on to capture the animal alive, study its psychology and behaviour to assess what future course of treatment to be adopted.”
Recording the submissions, the bench said: “It appears from news reports that the tiger was spotted yesterday and there was a huge bandobust in the area to capture the animal.”
After an order to hunt T23 was issued, on the ground that the animal killed three people near the tiger reserve, two PILs were moved by People for Cattle in India (PCFI) and an activist, seeking direction to the state forest department to capture the animal alive.
During the hearing, the court said the principal chief conservator of forests would use his best discretion to ensure that the least number of people intruded into any forest, since the natural habitat would get disturbed by the movement of large posse of humans.
“However, the authorities are left free to deal with the relevant animal for its treatment and for ascertaining its conduct and behaviour,” the first bench added.
All that can be said at the moment is that other animals in the area should not be disturbed to the extent avoidable for tracking down the tiger, though some discrete measures could be used for such purpose with the object of ultimately seeking the animal and respecting its right to remain in the wild and free to roam in the forest, the court said.
The judges then adjourned the plea to October 21 for the state to file a status report.