A hapless tiger of Jim Corbett National Park trying to escape the brutality of humans using a giant earthmover to capture it, has been recorded in a video which has gone viral. The incident was recorded recently by a bystander to showcase the barbarity of forest officials, which ultimately resulted in the killing of the big cat. Now the wildlife activists in the city have taken it upon themselves to get justice for the slain tiger. We update you on this...
A source from the forest department confirms that the tiger in all probability was overdosed with tranquillisers before the forest officials used earthmover to capture him. Disgusted and miffed at what has happened, animal rights activist SaroshLodhi says, "This incident has brought humanity to shame. We have received more videos from the incident last night by animal rights activists and it was shocking to see a mob of 200 people witnessing a national animal being tortured and harassed by Jim Corbett officials. But none of them did anything to save the tiger; instead, they were cheering and witnessing the cruelty. For tigers, surrounded by such a large mob is itself a traumatising experience which they cannot cope up with easily. Knowing all this, the forest officials decided to torture him and used a huge construction machine to pin him down which caused him severe injuries. In fact, what is so shocking is the fact that forest officials did not use Mahouts to capture the tiger even though the park has no dearth of elephants. Since the video is out now, people will see how inhumanely officials dealt with the situation."
Won't keep quiet
While being transported to the Nainital Zoo, the tormented tiger succumbed to his injuries and his death has aggravated many. Sarosh adds, "We are not going to keep quiet now. We are writing a mail to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and directly approaching the union minister of State for Environment, Forest and climate change Anil Dave, demanding an enquiry to punish the guilty. Also, we are planning to meet forest officials soon in this regard and if nothing works out; we will file a PIL, which will be our last resort."
Online protest
This is not it. City wildlife activists have also started an online protest to create a buzz on social media about this ghastly incident. Another animal rights activist Mohammed Junaid says, "We have started a social media protest in order to reach out to the masses. Now that the sad incident has been captured in a video, let the world see the brutality that has borne by the forest officials for a long time. We are using hashtags like #CorbettKillsTiger #FightForJustice and also tweeting to union minister Anil Dave so that our message reaches him directly."
Cover-up theories?
The so-called theories suggesting that the tiger had killed a labourer and her father-in-law outside his territory is nothing but a lie, feels Mohammed Junaid. He goes on to add, "There is no evidence that the tiger had chanced with the labourer outside his marked territory. In fact, all our sources have confirmed that the tiger was in his territory and it was the labourer and her father-in-law who went to fetch firewood there. So, the tiger was not at fault and it is rubbish to accuse him as man-eater."
