A tiger was killed and another severely injured by poachers’ traps at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. Sources said that a guard who had gone near the waterholes to install camera traps in the area spotted them and alerted the authorities. While the injured tiger is being treated in Nagpur, a high alert has been declared in the region to nab the poachers suspected to be from the Bahaliya community.
“The injured tiger was immediately tranquilised and rushed to a special vet in Nagpur. The forest officials have now declared a red alert and have started looking out for any other traps using metal detectors. Police officers have also asked their informers to keep a track on suspected medicine sellers in whose guise poachers operate,” said National Tiger Conservation Authority member Pandu Dhotre.
Mr Dhotre said that this time the poachers’ mission had failed otherwise they would have taken away the teeth, skin and bones of the dead tiger. “Since the incident was detected early they did not dare to come close to the trap,” he said.
Incidentally, on April 26 the forest guard M.B. Zade, while installing the cameras, got his leg stuck in an iron trap. This is when the presence of these killer traps was established.