Raipur: India’s tigers appear to be fighting a losing battle. In a shocker from Chhattisgarh, the probe into the killing of a tigress in Bhoramdeo sanctuary has ended at the doorstep of someone who was supposed to save her, a forest guard.
As per reports, Monday, 48-year-old Veer Singh, who was employed as a forest guard in the sanctuary in Kawardha district killed the full grown tigress to extricate certain body parts which he believes would have helped him increase his sexual power.
The carcass of the tigress, aged roughly five-six years, was found on November 15 with its claws and other body parts missing in Kawardha district. Initially it was suspected to be the handiwork of poachers. A probe panel under Chief Conservator of Forests Pratap Singh was constituted.
The probe panel was intrigued by the patrolling unit of forest official’ failure to detect poachers, or even the tiger killing for four days; however, on detailed investigation found Veer Singh guilty of the crime. Incidentally, it was Veer Singh who had announced the discovery of tigress’ carcass.
As per reports, Singh, who also operates as a dealer of herbs and medicinal plants found in the forest, has confessed to the crime and said that he poisoned the carcass of an animal killed by the tigress to kill her.
Later he along with two others used sharp weapons to cut off valuable body parts of the royal animal. They extricated claws, moustache. They also made a deep incision, resembling a bullet wound in the stomach to extract what is termed as a lucky bone (which brings luck), but could not remove it.
Clearly, much more needs to be done to protect the tigers in the state. In September, a mob of villagers in state's Rajnandgaon district had lynched a Royal Bengal tigress in the presence of forest officials.
Even though the number of tigers in the country has increased from 1,411 (2006) to 1,706 (2010) in the last four years, India is losing five tigers a month with the death toll in the wild already crossing the half century mark this year.
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