Missing Sariska tigress may be dead: Forest department
PROBE Orders have been issued for registering of FIR to conclude what happened to the tigress JAIPUR:
After about two months tigress ST-5 went missing from the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) and intensive combing operations were taken up to search the big cat, the forest department on Saturday said that the tigress is likely to be dead and an FIR will be filed soon.
“For investigation purposes we are presuming that ST-5 is dead. In case, it is found alive, we will file an FR (closure report),” said G Vishwanath Reddy, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan.
Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, the chief conservator of forest (CCF) and field director, STR, said, “Orders have been issued for registering of FIR against unknown persons under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to conclude what happened to the tigress. An officer of the rank of assistant conservator of forest will carry out the investigation,” he added.
A meeting of the standing committee of the Rajasthan State Wildlife Board was held in Sariska on Saturday. Issues about Sariska Tiger Reserve such as staff crunch, radio collars for all tigers, strengthening of monitoring and implementation of the recommendations of the VP SIngh committee were taken up in the meeting.
Former Rajasthan director general of police Ajit Singh is the chairman of the standing committee. Other members are Valmik Thapar, Dharmendra Khandal, Girish Kushwaha and Charles Ratnaswami. The standing committee was formed to manage the day to day issues as the State Wildlife Board, which functions under the chief minister, meets twice or thrice a year.
The forest department officials have also expressed unhappiness over the Wildlife Institute of India’s (WII) uncooperative attitude. In three letters written by Bhardwaj to the WII, the department had sought experts to help trace the missing tigress. However there was no response from WII, said Bhardwaj.
In his latest letter to the WII director dated April 20, 2018, the CCF has alleged that the WII’s monitoring teams misinformed the Sariska administration which led to delay in registering of FIR and subsequent investigations.