· The animal is not out of danger yet

· Hand of poachers suspected

BHUBANESWAR: A full-grown Royal Bengal Tigress was rescued with bullet wounds from Satkoshia Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday.

A veterinary team from the Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) shifted the tigress to Bhubaneswar on Sunday. The feline received six bullets (four on right rear leg and one each on left rear leg and neck), Ranjit Samantray, NZP vet, said.

Dr. Samantray said though the massively built tigress was responding to antibiotics and water, she was irritated by the human presence around her. "The tigress, believed to be of seven to eight years, is not out of danger. The blood samples collected from the animal will be tested and several others tests have to conducted on Monday." Local poachers struck the wild animal at Compartment-9 near Purunakote Reserve Forest inside the Satkoshia Wildlife Sanctuary two to three days ago.

As soon as Satkosiha Taskforce personnel got to know about the firing, they informed the divisional office. Divisional Forest Officer of Satkoshia Wildlife Sanctuary Susanta Nanda and the Nandankanan team facilitated initial treatment and shifted the tigress to Angul.

A team comprising Conservator of Forest, Angul Division, A. Mohapatra and Honorary Wildlife Warden Prasanna Kumar Behera visited the spot on Sunday to make an assessment about the involvement of locals in the crime.

Earlier incidents

Mr. Behera said a Royal Bengal Tiger was poisoned to death in 1997 and two leopards were killed in 2003. The sanctuary, which is a proposed Tiger Reserve, houses some 18 Royal Bengal Tigers and 32 leopards.

Some three wild elephants were killed within the sanctuary limits in November, which coincided with 11 poaching incidents across the State.

Subsequently, as many as 11 taskforce teams comprising villagers from buffer zones were constituted to keep track of poachers' movements.

Though a couple of month ago, the Satkoshia wildlife division along with the crime branch police claimed to have busted a poachers' gang, the latest strike indicated that wildlife syndicates were still active in the forest.