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
  

Related articles

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

Man in hospital – mauled after entering tiger enclosure in Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur (Jharkhand): A man was mauled and seriously injured by a tiger after he sneaked into the animal’s enclosure at the Tata Steel Zoological Society, police said on Saturday.

The man, whose identity is yet to be established, had entered the enclosure of Raghav, the full grown tiger, on Saturday night and was found unconscious inside the cage by zoo staff on Sunday morning. “It’s a wonder there was anything left of the man, they must be well fed tiger!”

Jamshedpur: Man mauled in tiger pasture

The victim was removed from the cage by the zoo staff and admitted to the government-run MGM Hospital here after administering first-aid, sources in the zoo said.

They suspected that the man entered the tiger enclosure with the intention of poisoning the striped cat to get its skin, or steal cubs from adjoining enclosures.

The matter would be probed in detail, the sources said. Police said they were investigating how the man managed to evade security and entered the enclosure.

It also needs to be ascertained whether the man is in a mentally sound state, police said.

Translation:-

News Link:–http://post.jagran.com/Man-mauled-after-entering-tiger-enclosure-1342335951

3 People Caught With Tiger Pelt

MYSORE: A six-month-old tiger cub has fallen prey to poachers, and is suspected to have been killed at BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, a tiger reserve in Chamarajnagar, bordering Tamil Nadu.

The poaching came to light following the arrest of three persons who were netted by a forest department vigilance squad posing as prospective buyers. They were arrested at Siddiahapura near Chamarajnagar and the tiger pelt and bones recovered from them. The officials are trying to locate where the cub was killed.

Sources told TOI that the cub may have been killed three days ago, given the freshness of the pelt. “How it died is yet to be ascertained as there are no bullet marks on the pelt. It could have been poisoned too,” the sources stated. The officials are sending the pelt and bones to the Bangalore-based National Centre for Biological Studies for further examination. The gender of the cub could not be ascertained from the pelt but said it could be a female.

The three arrested are Mahadev from Boodipadaga, Mahesh from Kullur and Narayan from Coimbatore, while two others escaped.

This is second case of poaching reported from tiger reserves in the Mysore-Kodagu-Chamarajnagar region. A tiger was killed in mid-February near Kushalnagar in the buffer zone of Nagarahole National Park, which came to light on April 7, after forest officials arrested one person at Naviluru in Periyapatna taluk in Mysore district. He later told police that they killed the tiger when they went hunting for deer and came across the big cat, and shot it.

This is story related to seizure of tiger pelt outside BR Hills tiger reserve in Chamarajnagar. This is second incident in recent times when the tiger pelt is seized in the area.

News Link:-http://m.timesofindia.com/city/bangalore/3-nabbed-with-tiger-cub-pelt/articleshow/14144446.cms