Even as the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has issued a countrywide red alert on threat of tiger poaching, Madhya Pradesh forest officials have denied the possibility of involvement of organised poaching gang in the case of a headless tiger carcass found in the core area of Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR).
Satpura is the first in the list of tiger reserves mentioned by WCCB in its red alert dated June 30, 2023, where ‘organised hunting gangs are seen active’. The alert was issued by the additional director of WCCB, H.V. Girisha.
A headless Tiger carcass in a highly decomposed condition was found in Dabra beat of the Churna range of the STR on June 26, though the details became clear only on June 30.
“This is to alert the Field Directors of all Tiger Reserves and officials concerning the outer areas of tiger reserves including tiger bearing areas, based on credible inputs received by the bureau and revelations of the recent seizures that the organized hunting gangs are seen active around various Tiger Reserves, especially Satpura, Tadoba, Pench, Corbett, Amangarh, Pilibhit, Valmiki, Rajaji, and tiger bearing areas such as Balaghat, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur. The Field Directors of all Tiger Reserves and officials concerned may immediately intensify the patrolling, visit the identified sensitive areas, look for the suspected nomadic people in tents, temples, railway stations, bus stations, abandoned buildings, public shelter places, inform the officials of all the police thana (station) concerned and sanitise aforesaid areas as a preventive measure,” the alert reads.
But, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF-wildlife) of Madhya Pradesh, J.S. Chauhan told THE WEEK that in the case of tiger death in STR, there is no prima facie evidence of involvement of organised poaching gangs. “The main reason for this is that in case of organised poaching, the gang members take away all body parts including skin, claws, bones etc., as everything fetches them money. Also, they won't want to leave any evidence of the poaching.”
He added that going by the primary probe, it appeared that the tiger might have died naturally and probably local tribal people might have cut and taken its head away after finding the body. “There are still some groups of people who believe that money can rain if body parts of tigers are worshipped,” the officer said.
The officer however added that local forest officials and members of State Tiger Strike Force (a special investigative wing of the MP forest department) have been deployed in the area. “They are very close to solving the case,” Chauhan said. He also de-linked the WCCB alert with the case in STR, saying that it was in the context of recent seizure of Tiger skin in Assam, where investigation revealed that the animal might have been killed in Maharashtra.
The suspected poaching of the tiger in STR is however causing huge worries in Madhya Pradesh as it is very unusual for tigers to be poached in the core areas of the reserves. Normally, tiger killings are reported from the buffer zones and periphery areas. Chauhan conceded that it is "after a very long time" that such an incident had occurred in a tiger reserve core area.
Activist seeks CBI probe
Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey has demanded a CBI probe into the incident, saying that it was very irresponsible of the state forest officials of ignoring the possibility of organised poaching in the STR tiger death, especially when there has been a record of such poaching by an international gang here earlier.
“Members of a gang involved in poaching were convicted in December 2023, but the leader of the gang J. Tamang (of Arunachal Pradesh) is still absconding. The forest officials have made it a habit to blame such incidents on local tribals and their belief in black magic. Moreover, the incident occurred in the core area of STR, which should be under constant and intense patrolling. I do not remember any such tiger killing in the core area in the past several years. Also, senior officials were present in the Churna range for Bison transfer project when this hunting happened. This is thus a case of gross negligence and requires a high-level probe.”
Dubey said he would be including this case in his ongoing petition against poaching being heard by the MP High Court. He also mentioned that of the 100 tigers killed in the country from January 1, 2023, the highest number – 26 was from Madhya Pradesh. The state has been consistently reporting the highest tiger deaths in the country for the past several years.