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Game-meat trap kills tiger in Satna

BHOPAL: A tiger was electrocuted by a live wire trap, probably set for game meat, in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh . This takes the number of tiger deaths this year to 14.

The carcass was found in Majhgawan forest area on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. Forest officials said the poachers had laid the trap near a canal in Dudhmunia forest, close to Ranipur Wildlife sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh, knowing that animals would come there to drink water.



The tiger’s body parts — including paws, claws, whiskers and hide — were intact. In the past two weeks, two tigers and a leopard have been killed by poachers through electrocution in the Satpura-Maikal landscape of central India — the world’s largest natural habitat of tigers, located between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra — in the hope of making cash rain from the skies through black magic.

Live wire traps along game trails has emerged as one of the most potent threats to tigers in the state. Four suspects have been rounded up by forest officials for the electrocution of the Satna tiger.

“Eating game meat is a matter of prestige for many in this region. Since gunshots alert forest guards, electric wires are used,” said a forest officer. A GI wire, wooden pole and power source are all they need, he said. Traps are laid close to waterbodies.

There were warning signs over the past few weeks. Forest officials were informed of the death of four cows and sambhar by electrocution in the same area, but no action was taken and a tiger was killed, said sources.

Conservation professional Vaibhav Chaturvedi said, “There has been an increase in the number of tigers dying due to electrocution. While a lot of these electric snares are laid to kill wild herbivores for meat, we have also seen targeted poaching of tigers this way. The recent trend of occult practices and superstitions driving such killings is really worrisome”.

“The area where the tiger carcass was found is close to Panna Tiger Reserve in the Vindhya landscape, where the tigers are known to disperse. There needs to be better preparedness of the frontline staff in the territorial areas to monitor the dispersing tigers and other wildlife,” he said emphasizing on preventive action like anti snare walks, patrols and monitoring to prevent such incidents. Experts say dispersal towards Satna is probably due to high density of big cats in Panna. Tigers are moving out to find new territories, especially towards Majhgawan forests.

In 2018, Madhya Pradesh lost 23 tigers, including seven females, with officials clueless on the reason behind 17 of these deaths. The NTCA reports says only one of them was killed by infighting and five died of natural causes. Most of these tigers were killed outside protected areas, making growing tiger population and dispersal a major cause of concern for wildlife protectors. The tiger death toll in 2017 was 26 (again, seven females), five of which were due to poaching. Seven of them were cubs. Reasons for the death have ranged from electrocution, poisoning, infighting, conflict with humans and rail accidents. Experts say most of the tiger populations in well-established tiger reserves have reached carrying capacity, posing challenge of dispersals and conflicts. Some tigers got killed in territorial fights or crossing over 200km from their place of birth.

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