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Tigress Avni death: Hiring shooter not illegal, have sought factual report, says tiger conservation authority

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has said that involving shooter Shafath Ali Khan in the hunt was not illegal since the state’s chief wildlife warden had authorised him.

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Following the uproar over the fatal shooting of problem tigress Avni (T1) in Yavatmal’s Pandharkawda forest on Friday, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has said that involving controversial shooter Shafath Ali Khan in the hunt was not illegal since the state’s chief wildlife warden had authorised him.

However, officials from the central body were quick to add that it has sought a detailed factual report on the events surrounding her shooting. Based on the report, they will take appropriate action in the matter. 

“Our regional officer from Nagpur has been asked to monitor post-mortem of the tigress and we have sought a factual report too. Once we receive all the details, it will be clear if there were any procedural lapses or specific violations of the standard operating procedure that is ought to be followed to deal with problem animals. Shooting a problem animal is the last resort,” said Anup Kumar Nayak, member secretary and additional director general, NTCA. 

T1 was being hunted for several months for allegedly killing 13 people and authorities had claimed that her DNA was found in five people who were killed. She was roaming with her cubs in the forests of Pandhakawda but proved to be elusive for Maharashtra forest department who had deployed over 200 people to capture her since August. Eventually, she was shot by Asghar, the son of Shafath Ali Khan. 

Former Project Tiger chief Rajesh Gopal termed the whole hunt for T1 as “quite unprofessional” and criticized the move to hire Shafath Ali Khan. “Killing is the last resort when you have so many other options. That animal had to be shifted, but certainly it did not deserve the treatment it got. This hunter should not have been hired when the forest department has all the resources...why do they need people from the outside,” Gopal said. 

Gopal said that by delaying the operation, the animal got habituated to the human scent. “To wean the animal from the habit of human scent, they could have tried many things. The area should have been left undisturbed and if livelihood of locals was attached to the forest, they could have been compensated to avoid the area,” Gopal said. 

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