Bengal tigress meets a lousy death in Arunachal

At a time when there is serious concern about depleting tiger numbers in the country, miscreants in Arunachal Pradesh entered a zoo and killed a Royal Bengal tigress. The incident at the Itanagar zoo-cum-botanical garden took place on Sunday between 8pm and 9pm when three guards were out for dinner. The fourth guard was on leave. 

P Ringu, deputy chief conservator of forest (wildlife), said the slain animal, Oni, was one of the six tigers at the zoo. Oni was born in the zoo in 2006.

Forest officials said the tigress was shot in the forehead and that the miscreants chopped off its abdomen before fleeing from the spot. Two empty cases were recovered from its skull during autopsy on Tuesday. 

“This is a very unfortunate incident. What has baffled us is the fact that all vital organs of the tigress such as its tail, paws, eyes, teeth, liver, etc were intact,” said BS Sajwan, the state’s chief conservator of forest. 

A section of the population in the Northeast is known to hunt carnivores such as leopards for meat. “The killers chopped off the tigress’ abdomen, but I cannot say with certainty if they took away a portion of the flesh. It could also be that they ran out of time and could not take the vital organs with them,” said Ringu. “They probably they came to hunt a tiger, but a killed a tigress by mistake.”  A tiger’s vital organs are in great demand globally and can fetch up to $50,000 in the international black market.

Sajwan said no arrests have been made so far, but action will be taken against those who should have been around to thwart the incident.