Tigress shot by poachers rescued by humans

Poachers pumped her with six bullets but she managed to drag herself into a thicket, where the sanctuary staff found her lying in a pool of blood and agonising pain. They brought her to Nandankanan, an open air zoo near here, where doctors are tending to her injuries. Soon she will be prowling the jungles again.

At a time when grisly stories of poaching and the plight of tigers have been hogging media space, this good news story has restored faith in the big cat's future. The rescued Royal Bengal tigress, saved from the Purunakot jungle of Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district of Orissa, will be operated upon on Tuesday when doctors plan to remove the bullets embedded in her legs and neck.

The tigress, believed to be six or seven years old, was rescued by an anti-poaching squad of the sanctuary in the wee hours of Saturday, said DFO Satkosia Susanta Kumar Nanda. Since then, senior surgeons of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) and the vet of Nandankanan have been working over time to save her.

On Monday, she was seen limping in her enclosure. Her hind legs are inflamed due to the gun shot injuries she has suffered. After a checkup, she had lunch and feasted on buffalo meat.

Earlier, on Sunday morning she was tranquilised and caged before being rushed to Nandankanan. To lessen her pain, she was first taken to the nearby Pampasar forest range and provided with first aid.

"The tigress received six bullets, four on her right rear leg and one each on her left rear leg and neck," Ranjit Samantray, the Nandankanan vet, told The Pioneer.

"Though she is responding to antibiotics, she gets irritated by human presence around her. Blood samples collected from her have been tested and several other tests are also being conducted," he added.

DFO Nanda said, " It was a successful translocation, and after she has fully recovered, she will be relocated in the forest. This is the first such instance of a big cat being saved from poachers."

Nanda added that four poachers were involved shooting the tigress and they have been identified. "Efforts are on to nab them," he said.

A Royal Bengal tiger was poisoned to death by poachers in 1997 and two leopards were killed in 2003. The sanctuary, which is a proposed Tiger Reserve, houses 18 Royal Bengal tigers and 32 leopards, Forest Department sources said here.

Despite the presence of anti-poaching squads, poachers have been striking frequently in Orissa's reserve forests. Three wild elephants were killed within the Satkosia sanctuary limits in November, 2006. Eleven anti-poaching taskforces, comprising villagers from buffer zones, have been set up to track the movement of poachers.