The Nainital High court’s intervention to save life of a tigress ordered to be shot dead by Uttarakhand government has brought cheers on the faces of wildlife activists.
According to them HC order on December 28, pertaining to a tigress killing three women in Kumaon region will set a new precedent in bigcat protection and enforcement of wildife laws.
In its final hearing on a PIL as to killing of three women by a tigress on prowl in Bhimtal area of Nainital on December 28, a Nainital High Court division bench of Justice Sharad Sharma and justice Pankaj Purohit said that wild animals attacking humans must be identified to ensure that no innocent beast or bigcat is pronounced maneater and killed by the forest department.
HC ordered that all efforts be made to first cage man eater, tranqualise and shift it to the rescue center. As HC pulled up the state forest department for declaring unidentifed bigcat maneater officials informed the bench that tigress in question was tranqualised and shifted to Ranibag rescue center in Haldwani.
Wildlife activists in Uttarakhand have applauded the HC verdict claiming that this will go a long way in saving wild lives and justified enforcement of provisions of wildlife protection act 1972.
According to them country would have lost one tigress in the guise of being pronounced maneater by the Uttarakhand forest department nearly a fortnight ago but for the timely intervention of the high court.
“This is an historical decision. HC order has not only saved a tigress but will ensure better enforcement of wildlife protection law as forest departments across the country miss no time in declaring a bigcat maneater and shoot them down. HC order will set a precedent and desist forest officials from taking decision on their whims and fancies” said wildlife activist and lawer Dinesh Pandey.
It’s notable that state forest department had pronounced a tigress, that traveled from Terai region to Kumaon hills in Bhimtal block, a maneater, following reports of two women killed by an unidentified wild animal in the area. Taking suo motu cognigance of the media reports Nainital HC on December 14 directed Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden to cage bigcat and send it to the wildlife rescue center.
A division bench of justice Sharad Kumar Sharma and justice Pankaj Purohit questioned Uttarakhand wildlife chief’s order pronouncing the tigress man eater even when the killler animal was unidentified.
The High court bench pulled up forest officials representing chief wildlife warden and questioned “how killing orders were issued under section 11 of the wildlife protection act 1972 when it was still unknown if the killer animal was a tigress or leopard.”
HC directed state’s chief wildlife warden to install cameras and place cages to nab the bigcat. It also ordered forest officials to tranqualise the alleged tigress if move to cage and transfer her to rescue center fails. Court also forbade officials from killing bigcat and asked them to first identify the killer bigcat before next hearing on December 21.