Hyderabad hunter to kill man-eater of Yavatmal

NAGPUR: A team of shooters, led by Nawab Shafat Ali Khan from Hyderabad, has reached Yavatmal district, 150km from Nagpur, to tranquilise a man-eater tigress that created panic among villages surrounding Pandharkawda and Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary and killed as many as nine villagers in the last two years.

The state wildlife wing issued an order to tranquilise the beast after it killed a farmer from Adan village in the district last week — its ninth victim. Chandku Bhonu Futki, the deceased farmer, was attacked in the Pandharkawda forest range when he was returning home on December 9.

KM Aparna, divisional forest officer of Padharkawda, said the tigress killed four persons last year and five more villagers since December this year, besides lifting countless cattle and goats. On three occasions, the tigress ate the bodies after mauling them.

A fear psychosis prevailed among villagers after a series of attacks on them by the tigress. They insisted that the tigress be killed immediately and took out a march to the local forest office in support of their demand.

But the state wildlife wing preferred to tranquilise the tiger instead of shooting it and engaged Ali Khan, an ex-national shooter and secretary of wildlife tranquil force, Hyderabad. Besides, the department set up five different teams, along with veterinary doc- tors, for tranquilising the animal, which is still eluding the teams.

A reputed hunter from Hyderabad, Ali Khan, who was frequently embroiled in controversies for shooting down “man-eating” tigers, had successfully tranquilised a tigress near Tadoba Tiger sanctuary in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra in July this year.

Aparna said the tigress was first spotted in a camera trap in 2014. “The origin of the tigress is not known so far,” she said.