Maneka vows action over killing of tiger
Maharashtra minister says man-eating beast was shot after attacking forest staff
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi yesterday slammed the Maharashtra government over the killing of the man-eating tigress Avni.
Gandhi, in a tweet, hit out at Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar saying “it is nothing but a straight case of crime” and said she will take up the matter “very strongly” with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Despite several requests from many stakeholders, Mungantiwar gave orders for the killing. “I am definitely going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically” Gandhi added.
Tigress Avni was shot dead as a last resort when all attempts to tranquillise her failed and she attacked officials, said Mungantiwar.
The tigress, T1, as she was known officially, was shot on Friday night by sharpshooter Asgar Ali in compartment No. 149 of Borati forest under the jurisdiction of Ralegaon police station in the state’s Yavatmal district.
Mungantiwar said nobody in the Forest Department wanted to kill the tigress and, thus, hundreds of personnel from the department were trying to capture her alive over the last three months.
He added that there was unrest among local farmers and Adivasis after she had reportedly killed 13 people in the past two years. “Ministers and secretaries do not sit in Mumbai and protect forest and animal species. It is done by farmers and Adivasis. In this case, there was a lot of unrest among them. We didn’t want them to eventually become enemies of wildlife,” Mungantiwar said.