WEDNESDAY brought bad news from the wilderness in Bhandara district as three tiger cubs and a full grown sloth bear were found dead in three separate incidents. Two cubs drowned in the siphon well of Tekepaar lift irrigation project near Garada Bujurg village in Dawdipaar round of Bhandara forest range while the other cub was found dead in Sanwarla round of Paoni forest range. The bear carcass was found in Dawdipaar round. As per details, on Wednesday morning, a group of Army recruitment aspirant youths from Garada Bujurg were running near Tekepaar lift irrigation project when then noticed two tiger cubs in the water of siphon well. The place falls under Dawdipaar round where on one side there is a forest and paddy fields on the other.

 

 

 

According to Honorary Wildlife Warden Shahid Pervez Khan, tigress movement was noticed few days back in the area and possibly both the cubs had fallen into the water while roaming around in the area. Fresh adult pugmarks were also found near the site which suggested that the tigress probably made an effort to save the cubs, but in vain. On getting information, Deputy Conservator of Forest S B Bhalavi, Assistant Conservator of Forest Saket Shende, Range Forest Officer Vivek Rajurkar joined by Honourary Wildlife Wardens Shahid Pervex Khan and Nadeem Khan rushed to the spot. Veterinarian Dr Gunwat Bhadke conducted the panchnama and after completing formalities, as per NTCA guidelines, both the carcasses were consigned to flames.

 

Now, Forest officials have installed camera traps to monitor movement of mother tigress. It may be noted that on Tuesday movement of a male tiger was also noticed near Korambhi on Bela-Dawdipaar road. But the tiger tragedy was not over for Bhandara here as another feline, a two-month-old cub that had been abandoned by its mother, was found dead in Sanwarla round of Paoni forest range.While speaking to ‘The Hitavada’, ACF Yeshwant Nagulwar informed that movement of a tigress along with her two cubs was noticed since March and on April 6 foresters had spotted one of the cubs moving alone. The mother tigress had possibly abandoned the it. Being separetd from the mother, the cub had become weak in want of proper food and milk. “We tried to feed the cub on Tuesday and also made an effort to reunite it with the mother, but it was found daed on Wednesday morning,” he informed. Veterinarian Dr Barapatre conducted the panchnama and after completing formalities the carcass was cremated in the presence of RFO Komal Jadhav, NGO Representatives Pankaj Deshmukh and MadhavVaidhya.

 

In yet another incident, a full grown sloth bear, aged around 20 years and weighing around 200 kgs, was found dead in Compartment No 286 of reserve forest in Dawdipaar round in Bhandara forest range. According to RFO Vivek Rajurkar, the animal died of snake bite. Veterneriarn Dr Bhadke conducted the postmortem.The carcass was cremated in the presence of DCF S B Bhalavi, ACF Saket Shende, Honourary Wildlife Wardens Shahid Pervez Khan and Nadeem Khan. Meanwhile, expressing grief over the loss of three tiger cubs, Honourary Wildlife Warden Shahid Pervez Khan termed the incidents as unfortunate and stressed the need for early measures to prevent such incidents in future. He also demanded to increase animal monitoring in Bhandara forest range.

 

Honourary Wildlife Warden Nadeem Khan also termed the incidents as unfortunate and stated that Bhandara.The day will be remembered as ‘Black Day’ for wildlife in district, he said. Irrigation project canals, death traps for animals MOST of the irrigation canals in Bhandara are situated near forests and there there is frequent wildlife movement. But a number of these canals are without any parapet wall.The repeat incidents of animals falling into the water bodies call for urgent preventive measures. Sensing thism DCF S B Bhalavi has written a letter to authorities in Irrigation Department demanding immediate steps to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future