29 Arrested In Arson Attack After Tiger kills Teacher In Madhya Pradesh

“I totally understand the loss of a loved one & the fear factor that big cats are prowling around; but I hardly think burning Forest Official vehicles, is going to help the matter. If anything it will have hindered the Forest Officials from tracking the tiger!  The problem is obvious, the big cats are losing their forests & the animals they would normally pray on. I don’t think a tiger can be called a man-eater, he isn’t biased about what he eats…he just has to eat to survive! Granted humans shouldn’t be on the menu, but if there is no meat left to hunt in the wild, of course they are going to stalk areas where they see food; i.e humans! Their habitat is being cut down for wood & to grow crops or build houses; so the tigers have no way to survive…they will kill anything when hungry. I’m sure they would rather stick to their own diet of forest animals but if there are none, due to lack of habitat, what do you expect? They can’t survive on fresh air!!”

“I’m sure the Forest officers were just as shaken by the latest tragedy’s & intend on trying to find & relocate the tiger! I hope & pray they get hold of that tiger before the villagers do, because once they get into mob mode, it’s a free for all, who knows what they will do to the tiger. Perhaps burn & torture it like they did when they caught a leopard poaching on human land! However, even if the tiger is caught & relocated, I’ll bet there is another tiger, just waiting to take its place! Something radical has to be done to save both human & animals from being killed…They must stop cutting down the tigers habitat, which includes the tigers natural pray. Or use the land to build more houses & grow more crops to fulfill India’s growing population. The attacks on humans won’t stop, until humans stop poaching the tigers habitat & food supply!! “

P Naveen,TNN | Oct 25, 2014, 06.06 PM IST

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh police on Saturday arrested 29 people over an arson attack after a school teacher was mauled to death a tiger in near Bandhavgarh National Park in Katni district on Friday.

The mob had attacked forest personnel, including local forest range officer while keeping some of them hostage, besides policemen and local journalists.

They said forest officers were overlooking the fact that some tigers had turned into man-eaters. 

Two motorized vessels and a dozen vehicles owned by the department were also set on fire, said officials. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were issued to bring situation under control. Amod Lakda (55), posted at Karchulia village’s government middle school, was attacked by the tiger in the buffer area near a water tank inside Khitouli range. He was a native of Chhattisgarh‘s Jashpur area.

Villagers claim this was the fourth incident of an attack by a big cat. Forest officers had been ignoring their pleas to shift the tiger. They say the matter was taken with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but in vain.

“Extensive damage has been caused to forest department property. The death of a teacher following tiger attack provoked people to go berserk,” said Narendra Kumar, chief wildlife warden.

Meanwhile forest officers have launched a hunt for the tiger for shifting it to a safe location.

News Link:–http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/29-arrested-in-arson-attack-after-tiger-kills-teacher-in-Madhya-Pradesh/articleshow/44933010.cms?intenttarget=no&utm_source=TOI_AShow_OBWidget&utm_medium=Int_Ref&utm_campaign=TOI_AShow

BHOPAL: Poacher Chopped Off Tiger’s Limb For Cooking – Plus Informative Video On India’s Tigers

BHOPAL: One of the poachers, who killed a tiger in Umaria, close to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve two days ago, took away one of its limb for cooking.

The accused, Bhola, reportedly butchered one of the limbs of the tiger and took it away, telling his fellow poachers that he would go home, cook and eat the meat. The shocking fact has come up during interrogation of the poachers by the forest authorities.

Five accused who were arrested by the forest staff were on Tuesday produced in the court which remanded them to the custody of the forest department.

The tiger hide was recovered by the forest staff dumped near a culvert. While the skin was recovered, other parts of the body including its kidney, liver and intestine were also missing. Autopsy revealed that one of its hind limb was cut off with a sharp edged weapon, while soft organs were consumed by predators.

Bhola and his two accomplices Thakurudeen and Dasu are still at large. Efforts are on to arrest them, said R P S Chouhan, conservator of forest (CF) Umaria. We are hopeful about recovering the tiger nails which the accused had cut and taken away, he said.

Five persons belonging to Palia tribal community, Darohi village (Umeria) were arrested for electrocuting the tiger near Bandhavgarh reserve on Sunday night – a few hours after its skinned carcass was found near Ghunghuti range. The accused were identified as Ram Singh, 39, Ram Milan, 30, Rajan, 24, Sukh Sen, 32, and Raju 28. The tiger skin buried in the jungle, using salt as preservative, was recovered from them.

During interrogation, accused – Ram Milan – told forest officials that Bhola, who lured them to skin the tiger, took away the limb, for eating. He maintained that the trap was laid for wild boars, but the tiger fell into it accidentally. The tiger got killed on the intervening night of December 7 and 8.

Panicked poachers dumped the tiger body into a culvert and went back to their village. Later in the morning they discussed the matter with Bhola and other relatives. And subsequently they agreed to revisit the spot to collect its skin, bones, nails and meat.

The tiger was skinned on the intervening night of December 8 and 9.

Bhola’s attempts to extract teeth of the tiger by hitting it with axe failed, after two of the canine teeth’s broke into pieces, making the set of teeth redundant, Ram Milan told interrogators.

As his share in the kill, Bhola took away the hind limb for consumption along with three nails, said officials quoting revelations made by the arrested poachers.

News Link:–http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-12/bhopal/35773071_1_tiger-skin-tiger-nails-tiger-body

The following video is very informative & well worth watching, it explains the problems faced by the tigers & the villagers that are encroaching on the tigers habitat. However there are some scenes of recent tiger kills; viewer discretion advised

India: Last Of  The Tigers

Uploaded on 18 Nov 2011 – AlJazeeraEnglish

Conservationists are in a desperate and uphill battle to save India’s tigers from extinction.

Just a few of the many petitions to save the tiger:-

• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/tigeraid_petition1/
• http://www.petitiononline.com/saveking/petition.html
• http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savethesumatrantiger
• http://www.tigertime.info/bantigertrade.html
  

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• Tragic fate of India’s tiger: Government says number of poaching deaths hits all time high (greatcatsoftheworld.wordpress.com)

Eight suspected tiger poachers held near Pench Tiger Reserve

BHOPAL: Eight suspected poachers were detained with a metal trap, a knife and others implements allegedly used to electrocute big cats at Linga village of Chhindwara district late on Friday night, close to MP’s Pench Tiger Reserve, which spreads over to Maharashtra. In Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, a striped-animal was electrocuted and chopped to 11 pieces for costly body parts a week ago.

The detention of the group assumes significance as it comes some 22 days after a warning issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that a big gang has paid advance to Katni district-based local poachers’ gang to kill tiger for body parts for big bucks in international market. In the wake of the NTCA warning, a high alert has been sounded in 42 tiger reserves across the country, including five in the state.

“We have recovered a metal trap, a knife, sharp iron rods, hammers, wires and wooden rods among other things used to kill tiger from their possession. After trapping the big cat, the modus operandi of poachers is that they put the sharp iron rod inside striped animal’s mouth to kill him,” Chhindwara divisional forest officer Ashok Kumar told TOI.

After killing the tiger, the poachers beat it up with wooden rod to loosen its skin and thereafter remove the hide with specially-designed knife, which they have recovered, he said.

Ashok said that the group was also owned one Gypsy jeep and eight motorbikes. “We believe that they had done a recee to kill tiger,” he added.

The arrested have been identified as Sanjesh of Shivpuri district and Zilendar Giri of Sarguja inChhattisgarh while Rai Singh, Dharma, Dhara, Ishwar, Jorawar and Kismat, all hail from Chhitorgarh in Rajasthan.

“We carried out searches at three places in Shivpuri,” Ashok said. He said that right now it was difficult for them to say that if the gang were members belonged to nomadic Pardhi tribe. Pardhi tribe, especially hailing from Katni district was infamous for killing wild animals for an easy living. The big poaching gangs allegedly use this tribe that is believed to have mastered the illegal art of killing wild animals across the country.

News Link:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Eight-suspected-tiger-poachers-held-near-Pench-Tiger-Reserve/articleshow/13537758.cms

Poacher admits to killing tiger 45 days ago

BHOPAL: A tiger was killed in Shivpuri district some 45 days ago by one of the eight poachers, who were arrested in Chhindwara district on the charge of planning to lay trap for electrocuting a big cat in Pench Tiger Reserve.

The eight accused were detained on Friday and produced in a court on Sunday after forest department officials registered cases against them at Chhindwara. Except Sanjesh who admitted to killing the striped animal in Shivpuri, all others Zilendar Giri of Sarguja in Chhattisgarh and Rai Singh, Dharma, Dhara, Ishwar, Jorawar and Kismat hailing from Chhitorgarh in Rajasthan have been sent to jail. The court sent Sanjesh in forest department remand for five days, Chhindwara divisional forest officer Ashok Kumar told TOI.

“We are going to grill Sanjesh, who hails from Shivpuri, and that is why we sought his remand. He might spill some more vital beans regarding poaching given he had been in Hoshangabad housing Satpura tiger reserve some days ago, ” Kumar said.

After Sanjesh confessed of having killed a tiger in Shivpuri, the officials are now planning to carry out searches at some places to recover the body parts of big cat. 

Two days back, the accused were detained with a metal trap, a knife and others implements used to electrocute big cat, at Linga village of Chhindwara district, close to MP’s Pench tiger reserve, which spreads over to Maharashtra.

News Link:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Poacher-admits-to-killing-tiger-45-days-ago/articleshow/13578572.cms