Destiny is not friendly
Not every time am I impacted by some news that I read on social media, there is so much information out there that by the end of reading those pieces I forget what I have read.
But this was different. I read a piece of news which left me shaken. It said ‘Tigress Avni, also known as T1, who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 13 people in the past two years, was killed in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal, Friday before last, as part of an operation’. Also, the land she lived on could now be handed over to contractors to build fancy buildings on.
Ever since this news came out, there has been outrage on social media. From environmentalists to animal lovers to commoners like you and me, all have been appalled by the insensitivity of a few men in positions of power. They killed a tigress, a mother of two cubs, because she was apparently a man-eater.
There are pictures doing the rounds on social media in which we see the men responsible for the shooting, proudly posing with the dead cat. When I saw these pictures I cringed with pain and disbelief. What has happened to us humans? Since when did we become this insensitive?
I shared this extremely disheartening news with my husband and his reaction to my dismay and surprise was ordinary and indifferent. I asked him why he didn’t feel for Avni? I asked him if he felt I was making an issue out of something trivial.
Could the forest authorities not have moved Avni and her cubs to a different forest or space by sedating her? What was the need to kill an animal, especially after the population of tigers was increasing in India? Was there any evidence found that she had killed any human beings in the area? If yes, why weren’t any preventive steps taken earlier? Why wait for 13 casualties? This to me seemed like a rushed decision.
I am in complete agreement with Indian politician Maneka Gandhi, an animal rights activist, who lashed out against the Maharashtra government and called the ghastly murder a “straight case of crime”. There is room for every living being on Earth. We are playing with the balance of Nature and life will take revenge. What goes around, comes around. All these strong men in power need to be made accountable for their actions. I am a believer in the ideology: Live and let live.