Was the death of three tigers in the premier Corbett Tiger Reserve a case of negligence by the forest officials ?
Three tigers died in quick succession in the Corbett tiger reserve. On May 27, the carcass of a tiger was found at a waterhole in the Dehla range of the park. A second carcass was found on May 29 at Ampokhra range and yet another carcass was found at the Fao range of the Terai west division on June 1.
Preliminary investigations point to these being cases of “revenge killings” with all three tigers having been poisoned since the bodies of the tigers were left intact.
“We are awaiting the results of the post-mortem,” said Corbett field director Samir Sinha. Alarm bells are ringing in the National Tiger Conservation Authority because the putrefying carcasses of three tigers is a clear indication that little patrolling is being done on the ground.
The NTCA member secretary Dr Rajesh Gopal and Uttarakhand’s principal chief conservator of forests RBS Rawat visited the reserve on Wednesday.