Maharashtra: Elephant hired to nab tigress kills woman

After an elephant meant to capture a man-eating tigress in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district went berserk and killed a woman, the state forest department has sent back four elephants that it had brought in from Madhya Pradesh for the purpose. The state has also pressed into service a Hyderabad-based shooter to tranquilise and capture the tigress.

AK Mishra, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF-Wildlife), said the rogue elephant, Gajraj, who was brought in from the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, had broken free. It then strayed on to the Mumbai-Hyderabad highway on October 4, where it also wounded a man. Following this, the four elephants were returned to Madhya Pradesh.

"Our first effort will be to tranquilise the tigress, and if necessary, it will be shot. Shooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan was brought in due to his study of the jungle and for the benefit of his experience," Mishra said. He added that once the tigress is brought under control, it would be sent to the Gorewada rescue centre in Nagpur.

This is the first such operation in Maharashtra where multiple tigers, including a tigress with kids, will be captured. The five-year-old tigress has been blamed for deaths of nine humans last year, and four more this year, the last three having taken place in a span of just 24 days.

"We have been unable to get the live location of the tigress," said a forest official involved in the effort, adding that they had formed nine teams to comb the landscape. At night, special tiger protection force (STPF) personnel mount machans to monitor signs of the tigress or alarm calls by other animals.