BHOPAL: The state has managed to check tiger poaching in 2018. Only seven cases have been reported in the ongoing year so far, in comparison to nine in 2017. However, over all the state lost 29 tigers in 2018, including 22 natural deaths. The nation-wide figure of tiger lost stands at 115.
Last year, the state had lost 28 tigers, including nine killed by poachers through electrocution or poisoning. The state had an ominous start as far as tiger preservation is concerned. Three tigers fell to poachers’ design in January in Seoni, Shahdol and Balaghat districts. Poachers killed a tiger in Badhavgarh in February and another in Mandla in March. They killed one in Obedullaganj in November and another in Badhavgarh in December.
Four persons were arrested by Special Task Force from Mohbarra village in Seoni district for killing a tiger so use its body parts for witchcraft. The tiger killed in Shahdol was about four to five years old and the carcass was recovered by a farmer’s field in Devra village on Rewa Road in Jaisinghnagar block of the district. The forest officials attributed the death to trap/fence put up by farmers to prevent stray and wild animals from destroying crops. Two persons were arrested with body parts of a tiger allegedly poached by them in Kanha Tiger Reserve spread in Balaghat and Mandla districts.
Dharmraj Dhamde and Sunil Lilhere of Lalbara were arrested on ground of their involvement in tiger electrocution in KATR in March-April. Carcass of an 8 yearold tiger was found in Obedullahganj Forest Division”s Ratapani Sanctuary in December. Chief wildlife warden Shahbaz Ahmad said, “Only 7 poaching incidents (Seoni, Shahdol, Balaghat, Badhavgarh(2), Mandla and Nasrullaganj) have been reported this year. Last year, this number stood at 9. We have been able to check poaching. However, natural deaths are 22 this year. Poaching incidents are electrocution and poisoning and natural deaths include deaths in territorial conflicts.”
