Tiger deaths being hushed up?
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The Pioneer
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Dehradun
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3 Aug 2012
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Uttarakhand appears to be second only to Maharashtra in the number of tiger death cases recorded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in the current year.
According to NTCA data, of the 44 tiger fatalities reported from different Indian states, 10 tiger deaths have taken place in Uttarakhand which include the death of four cubs burnt alive at an army depot in the Terai East forest division on June 5. However, wildlife activists aver that the actual number of tiger deaths in Uttarakhand is more than 15 this year. They allege that forest department officials record even suspicious deaths as natural deaths, This they claim is presenting a false picture and preventing the authorities from tackling the root causes of tiger poaching. However, officials deny this and stress that NTCA guidelines are being followed in the state.
Out of the 54 tiger fatalities in different States recorded by NTCA in 2011, 15occurred in Uttarakhand which also included the authorized killing of a tiger declared a man-eater in the Sunderkhal area near Corbett national park. However, this year, at least 10 tiger deaths have been reported from Uttarakhand in addition to the seizure of one tiger`s body parts.
The last tiger death in the State was recorded on July 22. While officials state the last tiger fatality was the result of a fight with another tiger, one of the vets conducting the post-mortem had told the media that 64 wounds on the body of the tiger included one inflicted on the neck by a sharp weapon. While 12 cases of tiger deaths have been reported from Maharashtra this year, eight cases have been reported from Madhya Pradesh, six from Karnataka, five from Assam and four from UP.
The Wildlife Protection Society of India, Uttarakhand in charge Rajendra Agrawal said that even those tiger deaths which are suspected to have been caused by humans are recorded by the state Forest Department as natural deaths. "Every tiger death should be investigated properly by the department. The officials report poaching deaths as natural deaths which is preventing the department from acting against the root cause of suspicious deaths," he averred.
The actual number of tiger fatalities in Uttarakhand is higher than officially recorded, added Agrawal.
However, according to the State Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Administration and Intelligence and director of the Anti-Poaching Cell, SK Dutt, "Male tigers often fight for mating rights and such fights can at times prove fatal for the one of the males.
We follow all the guidelines of the NTCA and all tiger post-mortems are conducted in the presences of the authority’s representative which rules out the allegation of misrepresentation of facts by the department," he stressed.
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