Lucknow : The inquiry committee constituted in the case of death of four tigers within two months in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve located in Lakhimpur Kheri has submitted the report to the government. The inquiry committee has revealed the cause of their death on the basis of the postmortem report of the tigers. A forest official said that between April 21, 2023 and June 9, 2023, four adult tigers—three males and one female—had allegedly died of various causes.
The incident forced the UP government to initiate an inquiry and transfer the officers responsible. For the first time in the investigation, flaws were revealed in the patrolling and monitoring of wild cats.
A senior officer of Bareilly division said that the post-mortem shows that the deaths were due to natural causes and not due to any circumstances or other reasons. In separate cases, two tigers died due to injuries sustained while fighting with other tigers. In the process, other tigers got injured and are undergoing the process of recovery. These fights were part of the natural qualities of wild animals. Tigers are territorial and disputes often occur.
It appears that the fighting between these tigers took place between males and females for mating or possession of territory, resulting in skirmishes and eventually resulting in death due to injuries. According to officials, the other two tigers died due to infection. When the immunity power of tigers is weak then they suffer from viral infection.
The truth of the death of four tigers in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve came to the fore, negligence exposed, the investigation committee submitted the report to the government
Lack of field staff and patrolling also exposed
At the same time, experts say that the infection and health issues of tigers were not taken care of, resulting in deaths. All the tigers were adults and in their prime. Along with this, he was also eager to increase his dynasty. Many lapses in the administration were also exposed in the investigation report. The report also highlighted the shortage of field staff and lack of patrolling in the tiger reserve.
Senior officials said that increasing the staff has been a priority since the deaths of the tigers. To augment the manpower, a batch of new Range Officers have been appointed. Although there are comparatively less subordinate forest guards and efforts are being made to fill the vacant posts soon.
More than 200 employees will be recruited
Presently the Tiger Reserve is working at 40-45 percent capacity of the total staff. We expect to recruit more than 200 employees to fill the posts and run the tiger reserve efficiently, officials said. Dudhwa National Park, part of the Tiger Reserve, is currently closed due to monsoon. Despite this, patrolling continues in full swing for the protection of tigers.
The nails planted around the boundaries of the garden also cause harm.
Locals suspect that the tigers that died of infection were injured with iron nails. People living around Dudhwa say that forest officials have put thick spikes around the boundaries of the national park to prevent villagers from entering the protected area. If it accidentally falls on Babu’s feet or any other part of the body, then he also gets hurt.
This is especially the case with newly habituated tigers, who keep moving from one area to another to create a new territory. The villagers have seen incidents of tigers getting injured during such times. Residents of a village near the national park also agree that the tigers are harmed by electric fences and other materials as well as nails to keep the villagers and their animals out. When the animals of the villagers wander off alone, sometimes even for a day, these nails are found on their feet.
Although officials say that such incidents affecting the tiger population are not possible. Tigers are physically strong animals and are mainly confined to forest areas. These dens are at the edge of the forest and tigers rarely venture into those areas, as they avoid any human interference. Such incidents may be possible for animals such as leopards, which have a tendency to move between forest areas and urban or human habitations.
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