Even after 9th count the predator is still on hunt
07 Oct 2020 01:47:19
70-year-old man killed by tiger in Rajura forest range
Forest Department is suspecting the same carnivore who killed eight other persons in a span of 21 months
Staff Reporter/
Chandrapur Correspondent
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
-- William Blake
This famous poem is talking about the tiger which is such a fearsome creature. In the poem, the fire equates fear. Don’t get too close to the tiger, otherwise you will get burnt. When a tiger walks, the jungle stands in attention. Every creature feels the presence of the predator. But, when it is on hunt, it become difficult for the prey to survive. Same fury of the fire is witnessed by the villagers in the forest range of Rajura of Chanda Division with one more hunt of an 70-year-old man of Khambada village on Monday evening.
The man had gone into the forest to fetch sticks for fencing his farmland. Chandrapur Forest Division officials suspect that the tiger, which made eight kills earlier in Rajura and adjacent Virur range, has claimed its ninth victim just 11 days after its previous kill. Forest officials are trying to confirm the identity of the killer tiger. The victim has been identified as Maroti Pendore (70). As Maroti did not return home in the evening, his baffled kin and villagers started a search, but failed to trace him. During the search operation, forest officials recovered his half-eaten body in the jungle on Tuesday morning. Forest officials conducted necessary formalities and sent the body to rural hospital for post-mortem in this connection. A case has been registered and further investigations are on. There was brief tension in the village following the incident.
The tiger attacks in Rajura range have been happening since last 21 months. The suspected tiger made his first kill in January 2019 in the same Khambada forest area under Rajura range. Later, it killed two more persons in November and December in 2019 in Rajura range and in January 2020 in adjacent Virur range. After confirmation, the Forest Department moved an application for its capture in January 2020. Forest officials have installed camera traps to identify the tiger. According to forest officials, tranquilising orders for the man-eater has already been issued and forest teams are out to capture it. The man-eater is so clever that it never visits the same place again. Hence, the Forest Department is finding it difficult to make plan to capture the predator.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) of Wildlife had granted permission for capturing the carnivore in January this year. But, till date, the forest teams have failed to trap the tiger. Forest Department has paid lakhs of rupees compensation to the affected families and to capture the tiger, but still, the wild animal is on the run. Conflicts between man and animal have occurred since the dawn of humanity. However, it has come to light more frequently in recent times. This has necessitated a need to understand why and how such conflicts take place and what can be done for minimising these conflicts and protection of both man and animal.