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UP Forest Dept, Wildlife Trust of India officials save tigress from getting lynched by villagers after killing local

Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) Rapid Response Team (RRT) and Uttar Pradesh’s Forest Department rescued a tigress from getting lynched by angry villagers after the big cat killed a local.

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Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) Rapid Response Team (RRT) and Uttar Pradesh’s Forest Department rescued a tigress from getting lynched by angry villagers after the big cat killed a local.

According to locals, the remains Kamta Prasad, a 50-year-old resident of Sahatepurva village located near North Kheri Forest Division of Dudhwa tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh, were found early Friday hours after he went missing. On conducting a search, the villagers found a tigress sitting near the farms located a few metres away from Prasad’s corpse.

As the news of the tigress spread, a mob of around 2,000 villagers gathered to kill the big cat. Fortunately, someone alerted forest officials, as well as the Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) Rapid Response Team (RRT). Officials soon reached the spot along with 50 personnel from the Nighasan police station.

The police and Forest Department after much deliberation realised that they had to first control the mob before finding ways of rescuing the tigress.

“A number of nets were placed to find a safe way to rescue the tigress. However, locals forced themselves into the field with their tractors to drive the tigress out,” said Premchandra Pandey, Head of WTI’s Terai Tiger Project.

He added that on seeing the tractor, the tigress sprinted out of the field only to be entangled in the nets. “She could barely move,” he added.

The locals then began assaulting the tigress, but the forest officials, aided by cops intervened. “It took considerable effort by the police, led by the circle officer to push the crowd away. We then put out more nets on the tigress and lifted her onto a vehicle. The driver then drove through the fields to avoid the crowd,” Pandey added.

The big cat was then taken to Majhgai Range for a physical examination by their team’s veterinarian.

Wildlife experts state that as per the circumstances and ground situation seen it can be believed that the attack was accidental and not intentional.

“This was a very dangerous operation for all personnel involved -- not because it involved the capture of a tiger, but because the assembled crowd was extremely aggressive towards both the animal and the rescue team,” stated Dr Anil Patel, Divisional Forest Officer, North Kheri Forest Division, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, who led the operation adding that if they had not captured the tiger it would have surely been killed.

RRT veterinarian Dr Reetika Maheshwari, who examined the captured tigress found possible signs of a head injury. “The tigress was shifted to Lucknow zoo in the wee hours of Saturday morning so that the precise nature and extent of the injury could be determined. The tigress is otherwise fit and bears no external injuries nor is it debilitated in any way,” she said.

While wildlife experts hope that the tigress is released back in its natural habitat forest officials stated that they will have to examine all the aspects and then take a final decision.

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