Back to back three tiger deaths in just one week in Maharashtra has raised questions over wildlife conservation in forest areas of the State. In the recent incident, a 6 months old tiger cub was found dead in Compartment No 489 of South Junewani Beat, in Territorial forest area of Deolapar Forest Range on Wednesday evening. After getting the information, a Forest team rushed to the spot and conducted panchanama of the partially decomposed carcass of the cub. Due to darkness, the team decided to perform the post-mortem on Thursday morning. 

 

 

 

 

The tiger T-10 tiger was rescued from the forest near Tai (Bu) village in Lakhandur tehsil of Bhandara on Wednesday morning. The two-and-a-half-year-old tiger was spotted by villagers around 6 am and some people threw stones at it to drive the animal away. Fortunately, someone intimated the Forest and Rapid Rescue team as well and the tiger was rescued around 12.15 pm. A forest official informed that the big cat had probably made a kill and was relaxing after that. As per details, the T-10 tiger has been regularly spotted in various forest areas nears Lakhni, Adyal and Lakhandur tehsils in the last few months. A few days ago, the said tiger was seen in the forest near Hardauli in Lakhni tehsil. On Wednesday, the tiger was spotted in the forest near Tai (Bu) village in the morning. Soon, people of the area gathered to catch a glimpse of the big cat.

 

They even pelted stones to scare away the tiger. Soon, Forest Department staffers from the district including Deputy Forest Conservator (DCF), Lakhandur Rahul Gavai, Assistant Forest Conservator (ACF) Sachin Nilakh and Sanjay Mendhe, Range Forest Officer, Lakhandur Pradeep Channe, Range Forest Officer, Sakoli Sachin Katre, Range Forest Officer, Adyal Aher, Area Assistant Syed of Dighori/Mo and others reached the spot. Police team was also summoned and it brought the panic-stricken mob under control.

 

With the initiative of the Rapid Rescue Team, the tiger was tranqualised with a dart and made unconscious. It took rigorous efforts of 6 hours to tranqualise the big cat. Meanwhile, Veterinary Officer Prashant Chaudhary, Wasnik and others also gave information about conducting various health tests on the tiger. For the past one month, citizens have been informed about the sighting of a tiger named Bhandara T-10 in various forest areas of the district. However, there has been no incident of any man-animal conflict. The people heaved a sigh of relief when the tiger was rescued. It tiger was later also released into its natural habitat.