Click,bait:tigresst1’s cubs spotted
Eighteen days on, two cubs captured in camera traps, seen eating pony kept as bait; may be rescued soon
MUMBAI: The two cubs of tigress T-1 or Avni last Thursday ate the bait laid out for them, the forest department claimed on Tuesday, raising hopes that the 10-montholds may soon be rescued. After two-three baits, the cubs will either be led to a trap cage or a spot close enough to tranquilise them.
The search for the cubs was launched after Avni was killed in Yavatmal on November 2. On Thursday, the camera traps captured images of the male and female cub eating the 60-kg pony kept as bait.
According to the forest department, tiger cubs grow up under their mother’s care for an average of 18 months. The cubs need to be rescued as they are too young to fend for themselves in the wild, and may fall prey to infighting as tigers are territorial animals. The department wants to rehabilitate the cubs to ensure they “don’t become man-eaters like their mother”.
“The idea is to make the cubs comfortable and secure in this territory by giving them regular access to food. The cubs ate 80% of the pony and left the remaining carcass on Monday,” said Sunil Limaye, additional principal chief conservator of forest, Nagpur. “As the cubs gain confidence, they will begin their search for more food in the coming days. A second live bait will be set up in close proximity to the previous one. We expect the cubs to feed again over the next two days. A third bait will be kept after that, leading them to a trap cage or close enough for us to tranquilise them. It is a slow process, but we are making progress.”
Meanwhile, a non-government organisation (NGO) has been accused of withholding data and information that could have helped tranquilise T-1 last year. The NGO is currently assisting the forest department in the rescue operation, and the president of the NGO is part of the investigation team set up by the state to probe the killing of T-1.
“The forest department was there to capture the tigress, not for research. The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), one of the two NGOS involved in the research at the site, did not share information on the whereabouts of the tigress or any other scientific data. This is why I have asked the department to keep the NGO away from the current operation,” said Dr Sunil Bawaskar, officer-in-charge of the Maharajbagh Zoo in Nagpur who was part of the operation to tranquilise the tigress between December and January.
A letter by the officer from January 8 alleged the deputy conservator of forest of this zone “had blind faith in the NGO despite repeated delay in finding the tigress”.
The letter, which went viral on social media websites, pointed out that information was being suppressed by the team and the morale of the forest staff was low as they were aimlessly searching for the tigress.
The forest department and the NGO have denied the allegations. “The accusations are baseless. We are working with all stakeholders. It would best to avoid meaningless confrontations and move ahead with the task at hand,” said Limaye. “WCT did not conduct any camera trapping exercise in the said area after June 2015, and only assisted the forest department staff. WCT never had exclusive custody of any data. Our job was only to analyse the data coming from the field and assist management in mitigation of human-tiger conflict,” said Anish Andheria, president, WCT. “The allegations are false as the officer to whom the letter was addressed did not communicate anything to WCT.” “The government is seen intentionally encouraging malpractices in the forest and this letter is evidence of that,” said Anand Siva, animal activist.