Poachers now reach zoo, skin tigress

HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 6: Unidentified poachers today killed and skinned off a 13-month-old tigress at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad ...

HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 6: Unidentified poachers today killed and skinned off a 13-month-old tigress at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Four zoo staffers have been placed under suspension in connection with the incident, the first of its kind in any zoo in the country. Zoo officials did not rule out the complicity of the staff.

The tigress, Saki, was said to have been sedated and killed in its cage itself. Later, the body was dragged out where it was skinned in a perfect manner. The killers also removed the nails and threw the carcass in the water sump near the enclosure.

Though the incident happened in the wee hours, a formal complaint was lodged with the Bahadurpura police only at night and it was made public today.

Pending enquiry, forester Vikaruddin, animal keeper Venkatswamy, watchman Sheik Basheer and zoo sergeant Lakshminarayana were suspended by higher-ups.

Chief Wildlife Warden T Ramakrishna said the incident was noticed by animal keeper Venkatswamy who found the lock to the enclosure broken around 9 a.m. He found the door open and drag marks of stains in the enclosure which led to the carcass of the tigress in a sump.

“We suspect the culprits noosed the animal, cut the jugular vein and dragged the tigress outside the enclosure after she bled to death in the cage itself,” Ramakrishna said. He added that the job was the handiwork of professional killers. Three to four persons might have resorted to this horrible crime. “We do not rule out the complicity of some of the zoo staff,” he added.

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The police came to the spot along with a sniffer dog squad. The dogs went round the enclosures and the 16 ft high fencing beyond which there was a lake.

The tigress skin would fetch about $10,000 in the international market, experts said.

Saki was 2.5 ft tall and 6 ft long when measured from the tips of nose and tail. Her mother Karna was in the next cage when the crime was committed.

The carcass of the tigress was shifted to the Veterinary Biological Research Institute (VBRI) where a post mortem was conducted.

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Preliminary reports suggested that the animal was apparently shot at with a tranquiliser as a needle mark was found below the animal’s neck. However, a sample of the animal’s viscera was sent to Forensic Science Laboratories to ascertain whether the tigress was poisoned to death.

Zoo curator T Trinadha Rao said that the act which might have lasted about two hours was carried out in a meticulous way and the skinning was also done in a professional manner.