The Union Wildlife Ministry has taken a serious view of the shooting of a tigress in Marchula, The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has called for a report from the Forest Department on the entire matter related to the case within a week’s time.

Death of three tigers in Marchula of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Almora in Uttarakhand in the past ten days has alerted the Centre. The latest case is from the Kalagarh forest division of Almora in Uttarakhand.

The ministry has taken cognizance of the circumstances under which the death of the tigress which was roaming in the Marchula market Almora occurred. The State Wildlife Department was asked to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter. Director of the Corbett Tiger Reserve had also ordered an inquiry into the case.

The tigress is said to have died due to loss of blood oozing from her right thigh hit by shrapnel. A case has been registered against Constable Dheeraj Singh, who opened fire on the carnivore. The accused has been terminated from service with immediate effect and attached to the plain range located at Sindhi Khal of Sona River, sub-division of Kalagarh.

The question being asked by information is as to why the bullet was shot at the tigress instead of a tranquilizer to make her unconscious, and why the Forest Department did not take action even after the tigress was often seen in this area?

The Forest Department was monitoring every activity of the tigress. It has come to the notice of the staff that the canine teeth of the tigress were worn out and were unable to hunt. On such points, the concerned wildlife officials should be held accountable for the whole matter. A report has to be given.

According to an information received from the Uttarakhand Wildlife, an attempt to chase the tigress away by firing in the air failed, and seeing the tigress’ attempt to approach the populated area, the constable was left with no option, but to shoot her down to protect the people present, whose pellets hit the tigress and she died due to excessive bleeding.

The post-mortem of the dead tigress revealed a completely empty stomach, damage to kidneys and liver and worn out large predation teeth. Since she was unable to hunt in the forest, she probably turned towards the human habitat in the hope of easy prey.

Meanwhile, the ministry has called for a report on the dead body of a leopard found near the Aravalli mountain range near Khovar village adjacent to Harchandpur Gram Panchayat in Gurgaon. However, a post-mortem report revealed that the carnivore was suffering from ovarian cancer.