Even as the forest department begins the Wildlife Week celebrations with a pat on its back for arresting a poachers' gang, a group of young conservationists has decided to shun the events and run a campaign seeking "justice" for the two tigers that fell in the poachers' trap in April last year. While one of the two big cats from Gondmohadi in Chandrapur district had died in the trap, the other was maimed.
The forest department had claimed to have solved the Gondmohadi case too, arresting some locals, but the activists from Chandrapur and Nagpur districts said the real culprits were the organised poachers from Madhya Pradesh.
A press note issued by the activists under the banner of "Justice for Gondmohadi Tigers" said a CBI probe into the Gondmohadi case was needed amid disturbing media reports about the possibility of over 20 tigers being poached in the state in the last one year. "The method used to trap the Gondmohadi tigers is typical of organised poachers' gangs. The state government has announced to hand over the recent Melghat poaching and Nagpur tiger skins cases to CBI. We feel the Gondmohadi case too needs to be handed over to the CBI," said the press note.
The activists have secured signature support of most of the local people's representatives for their campaign. They have also launched a special Facebook page called Justice for Tigers to garner support.
"There are reports of over 20 tigers being killed. At least five are confirmed since five skins were traded near Nagpur. Only one of that is traced to Ghatang poaching in Melghat. The forest department claims big success in the arrest of over 15 poachers and congratulatory messages are flying all over. Are they sure the remaining four tigers were not killed in Vidarbha? What if they were from this region? Why is this hurry for the celebrations," asked one of the activists.
