Minister rebuked over tiger killing

An Indian cabinet minister accused a party colleague on Sunday of ordering the ghastly murder” of a tiger and“vowed legal action after the man-eating animal was shot.

The big cat was shot dead on Friday night after a months-long search, capping one of India’s most high-profile tiger hunts in decades. But the shooting in the forests of Maharashtra state sparked allegations that the kill was unethical and illegal.

Maneka Gandhi, a staunch animal activist and part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, accused the state forest minister of hiring a “triggerhappy shooter” to slay the tiger.

“It is nothing but a straight case of crime,” said Gandhi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), describing the shooting as a “ghastly murder”.

“I’m going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically,” she posted on Twitter.

She accused the state’s forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar also from the BJP — of ignoring appeals to call off the hunt for the tiger known officially as T1 and popularly as Avni.

The supreme court had issued a hunting order for T1 in September, ruling that she could be killed if tranquilisers failed.

Several appeals were made against the death sentence.

Forestry officials said no veterinarian was present during the hunt, as required by the court order. The Indian branch of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the tiger slaughter was about “satisfying a hunter’s lust for blood”.

The big cat was blamed for 13 deaths since June 2016, but animal activists said she was trying to protect her young.

T1 was shot by Asghar Ali Khan, son of India’s most famous hunter, Nawab Shafath Ali Khan, who was meant to be leading the hunt but was not present on Friday night.

Khan defended his son’s actions as “a reflex action of selfdefence” as the tiger turned on the party after being struck by a tranquiliser dart.