Wildlife activists demand action following poaching of tigress

A radio-collared four-year-old tigress was allegedly killed by poachers by poisoning, and the feline’s body was recovered from a pit in the Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) of Madhya Pradesh.

The incident came to light a day ago. Following that, wildlife activists raised serious concerns and levelled allegations against the state forest department officials.

Advertisement

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey on Saturday lodged a formal complaint in the matter to several higher authorities, including the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), New Delhi; the Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), New Delhi; the Additional Director General (Wildlife), MoEFCC, New Delhi; the Additional Director General, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Government of India; and the Principal Secretary (Forest), Government of Madhya Pradesh.

In his complaint, Dubey alleged that no movement had been detected on the radio-collar monitor since 3 March, but the forest department’s monitoring teams either failed to realise the emergency or ignored it until 26 March, the day the tigress’s body was found.

He further alleged that poachers poisoned the tigress and that her carcass was found buried in a pit in the Sanga Kheda village area under the Chhindwara South Forest Division.

Dubey charged that the incident is not merely a case of poaching, but a glaring example of administrative and monitoring failure.

He sought immediate intervention from higher authorities in the matter.

Dubey demanded that accountability be fixed and that stringent action be taken against the officials responsible.

He also demanded that the STR Field Director, Rakhi Nanda, be immediately removed to ensure a free and fair investigation into the incident.

Ajay Dubey claimed that 14 tigers had died in Madhya Pradesh since January this year.