Tigress caught in wire trap rescued in Corbett
DEHRADUN: An old tigress caught in a wire trap was rescued in Kalagarh area of Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) and sent to the rescue centre for treatment, a senior official of the forest department said.
“We successfully rescued the tigress and sent it to the Dhela rescue centre. It is currently under veterinary care,” CTR director Dheeraj Pandey said.
“The animal was camera trapped a few days ago and is being examined by veterinary doctors to decide the line of treatment. The animal is taking normal diet and its vitals are stable. It was camera trapped earlier as well, which corroborates the marked fibrosis over the ventral side of the body, indicating it to be an old wire trap,” he said.
Pandey said that they came to know about the animal caught in a wire after they camera trapped it. Pandey said, “We had informed our senior officials about the incident.”
Recently, a tigress died due to starvation in Pakhro zone of CTR, revealed the post-mortem report of the big cat. She was found unconscious on May 19 evening and died the next day, said forest officials.
Neeraj Sharma, divisional forest officer (DFO), Kalagarh, said, “She was old tigress and its many body organs had been damaged. Its canines too were worn out. The tigress was incapable of hunting so she died of old age and starvation.” Sharma said tigress was spotted in Pakhro range of CTR. Forest personnel rescued her and called the veterinary staff to provide first aid to her. She was being transported to the Dhela rescue centre to provide medical facilities, but she died on the way. Sharma said, “Kalagarh has dense forest cover and a rich prey base. There is no human intervention like other parts of CTR. The number of tigers is higher than other ranges. Tigers live here without disturbance in comparison to the area where the jungle safari is frequent.”
Many tiger deaths have been reported in the last one year or so. The carcass of a seven-yearold tiger was found in Chhakata range in Haldwani forest division in Nainital district in March this year. On February 26, an injured tiger in Fato Forest Range under the Terai-West forest division died of its injuries. On February 6, an eightyear-old tigress was found dead in Fatehpur forest range of Ramnagar forest division in Nainital district. On January 24, carcasses of two tigers were found in Dhela range of CTR and Kaladhungi range of Ramnagar forest division respectively. There are 442 tigers in Uttarakhand according to All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 released in 2020. The tiger population in the Himalayan state has risen from 178 in 2006, 227 in 2010, 340 (including 215 in Corbett) in 2014 and 442 (including 231 to 266 tigers in Corbett) in 2018.