New Delhi: A forest official has been booked in connection with the killing of a tigress near the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand’s Almora district, officials familiar with the development said.
The Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) administration admitted that the tigress, believed to be 8 to 10 years old, which was found dead in the Marchula market area in the buffer zone of the wildlife sanctuary, was killed in the firing by a forest official.
Dheeraj Singh, a forest guard of CTR’s Mandal range, had fired two rounds from a 12-bore gun to scare away the animal, but one of the bullets hit the big cat in its right thigh, said CTR director Dheeraj Pandey.
“The tigress had turned violent and was a threat to the life of locals in the densely populated area,” he told reporters. “A forest official had initially fired nine rounds in the air using a 315-bore service rifle to scare away the animal towards the forest area, but it tried to enter the houses and shops repeatedly.”
Forest guard Dheeraj Singh has been booked under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, said the CTR director.
The post-mortem examination of the tigress, conducted by a team of veterinary doctors, confirmed that the big cat died of bullet injuries resulting in excessive bleeding.
