Maharashtra: Man-eating tiger that killed 13 captured in Gadchiroli; 'Was threat to human lives'

Gadchiroli: In a major breakthrough, a tiger that had killed 13 persons in three districts of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra over the past 10 months, was captured on Thursday by the forest department in Gadchiroli district, an official said.The tiger named ‘CT-1’ was moving in the Wadsa forest range in Gadchiroli and was becoming a threat to human lives, he said.

“The tiger had killed 13 persons – six in Wadsa, four in Bhandara district and three in Brahmapuri forest range in Chandrapur district – from December last year,” the official said, adding that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Nagpur had, in a meeting on October 4, directed that this “conflict tiger” be captured.

“Accordingly, the Tadoba Tiger Rescue team, the Rapid Response Teams of Chandrapur, Navegaon-Nagzira and other units worked on war-footing to capture the tiger. It was tranquilised and captured from Wadsa forest range on Thursday morning,” the official said.

Generally, tigers that attack humans apart from circumstances like defending cubs or trying to save one’s own life are referred to as conflict tigers.

The forest department’s action is crucial as the presence of tigers in Gadchiroli district came to limelight when a tigress killed two people in Ravi village in 2017. Since then, the number of big cats has increased with the current population estimated to be between 25 and 32.

The forest department has said that the rise in the number of tigers in Gadchiroli district was due to the migration of tigers from the nearby Brahmapuri division of Chandrapur district which has more tigers due the influx of tigers from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.