Four different tigers killed four humans in PTR since March, claims Dy Director

 

 

 

The four deaths in tiger attack that took place in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) since March last, were carried out by four different tigers in Pench forest, revealed Dr Prabhunath Shukla, Deputy Director, PTR to The Hitavada. “Since March this year, four persons lost their lives in tiger attack. All these incidents took place in buffer area spread between Chorbaoli and Khursapar ranges,” said Dr Shukla. “Since the incidents, we were working on to identify the problem tigers that committed the kills with the help of DNA and the stripe pattern matching. The recent death of a human in the attack near Tuyapar village was carried out by T-112 tiger which dwells in the forest area. We have identified T-112 with the help of DNA and can say that all the four kills that took place in last seven months in PTR are made by four different tigers,” claimed the Deputy Director.

 

The Forest Department got the permission to tranquillise T-112 tiger from Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF). More than 100 forestmen, including Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) staff, State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) staff and Primary Response Teams (PRT) are conducting day and night patrolling to trace the problem tiger that killed the farmer named Sukhram Saryam (55) a resident of Tuyapar village, recently. The PTR management has kept its two elephants on the standby mode in Chorbaoli area to help foresters rescue and capture the tiger. “We have called teams from Wardha, Bhandara and Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) to assist our teams for the operation. If required, we can use elephants for the rescue work,” added Dr Shukla. As a precaution, the PTR management has temporarily installed a chain-link fence around Tuyapar village to avoid any fresh incident ofF man-animal conflict. Also, with the held of NGOs, the foresters are sensitising villagers. “With the help of an NGO, our teams are creating awareness among villagers residing near PTR. We are advising them to avoid venturing or entering forest area alone. While going to agriculture fields for daily work, the villagers are told to go in groups,” said the officer. “We are using baits to lure the tiger and expect to succeed in capturing the tiger soon,” he added. While villagers are coping fear, the foresters are on door-to-door connect in Tuyapar and other villages alerting them to take precautions to avoid encounter with tigers.