Tiger killed near Tadoba reserve, officials claim it was a maneater

• Till yesterday, officials had maintained that the Talodhi maneater was a tigress, and it was the only animal stalking the villages in the area.

• An earlier cattle-kill by the maneater showed only three puncture marks, leading to suspicion that the animal may have its lower right incisor missing. The tiger killed today had all his four incisors in place.

However, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) B Majumdar dismissed the missing tooth theory as conjecture.

Dismissing the confusion over its gender, Divisional Forest Officer Hrishikesh Ranjan also maintained that it was indeed the maneater that was killed today. “As per Majumdar’s directive, we skinned the animal before burning the carcass,” he said. Majumdar revealed plans to stuff it and put it on display at the Nagpur museum.

The tiger was killed by some sharpshooters from the police department, who were accompanied by forest officials. Early this morning, they lay in wait near Mangrul village, where the tiger had reportedly killed a bullock. At around 7:40 am, they sighted the tiger and shot it. “The carcass was riddled with bullets,” said Ranjan.

Wildlife activist Harshavardhan Dhanwatey, who had captured the first image of the tiger with his camera trap equipment, said: “There was an error of judgement, the photos didn’t show any testicles. Also, the pug mark findings pointed to the possibility it being a tigress. But we have confirmed that it is the same animal from the pattern of stripes.

According to him, the tiger could be about six years old and weighed 147 kg. “The weight was a bit less for the 8.5-feet-long tiger,” he said. Generally, full-grown tigers are known to weigh up to 200 kg.

The 625 sq km Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve has 40-44 tigers, while the surrounding 800 sq km non-protected area has over 22 tigers which are increasingly coming into conflict with the human population there.

‘Conserving tigers to kill them?’

“It is a sad day for wildlife. On one hand, poachers get away with killing tigers. On the other, the officials were forced to kill one. It underscores the need for tiger authorities and responsibilities being extended to dispersing tiger populations as well. You can’t leave the tigers in the non-protected areas to die like that.”

— Nitin Desai, central India Director, Wildlife Protection Society of India

“Tadoba is a success story. You have good breeding there. Those tigers are moving out in search of territories. Today, it was this tiger, tomorrow it may be another one. Are we conserving tigers to kill them?”

— Debi Goenka, wildlife activist