Hyderabad: Two persons were arrested and an 11-year-old detained for the death of a tiger in the Kagaznagar forest area of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. The tiger was found dead on January 8 in the Darigaon forest beat of Kagaznagar range.
While the two adults were remanded to judicial custody for 12 days, the minor was released on a parental bond.
The adults were identified as Kova Gangu and Athram Jalpathi, both 22, from Rengarrit hamlet of Velgi gram panchayat in Wankidi mandal.
They had poisoned a cattle kill, made by tigers near Velgi village, to get rid of the tigers – a family of six, four cubs, a female and a male, officials said. Of this family, a female cub was found dead on January 6 and officials had said that the cause of its death was infighting within the tiger family. The male, which fathered the cubs, was found dead two days later with clear signs of being poisoned.
Officials said the boy, a shepherd, took the men to the cattle kill spot.
Villagers have been complaining for some time about the tigers and the threat to their cattle. Officials said that with summer on its way, there were fears that they would not be able to graze their cattle in the forest or use a natural spring to water their animals.
The tigress had established her territory in the area and had been living there for nearly two years and also gave birth to four cubs, officials said.
The boy also threw the empty bottle of the herbicide that was poured on the cattle carcass in a small ravine half a kilometre away.
Meanwhile, officials said the search for the mother and three of her cubs yielded some results on Friday. One of the 40 odd camera traps placed in the forest caught an image of one of the two cubs that also fed on the poisoned cattle carcass, while another was reported to have been sighted by one of the many teams of trackers, who have been searching for the tigers over the past three days.
However, the tigress is yet to be sighted but a set of pugmarks found two days ago are believed to belong to her. The third cub had been missing for 10 days and the search to find it will continue, officials said.
Three, including a juvenile, charged with causing tiger’s death
