Nagpur: As feared, Srinivas (T10), the offspring of the iconic tiger Jai which too is missing since over a year and is feared dead, was found buried in a farm in Vilam village in Nagbhid range (Chandrapur district), around 100 kms from here. On Thursday, a team of forest officials exhumed the body the 3-year-old Srinivas which had been missing since eight days.
MahadeoIrpate (60), a farmer Kothulna village, confessed to the crime and said that the tiger died after coming in contact with barbed electric wire fence laid to protect paddy crop from marauding herbivores, especially wild boars and nilgais. The current was drawn illegally from a 11KV overhead line. Irpate has been arrested and the case is being considered as a poaching.
When Irpate noticed the dead tiger he removed its radio collar with the help of a screw driver and threw it 200 metres away near a nullah and then buried the carcass in his farm.
As reported by TOI, the collar was working and last signals from the radio collar were recorded on April 18. When the Wildlife Institute of India received mortality signals from the collar on April 20, one of its researchers asked foresters to cross-check the spot.
However, when the team led by Nagbhid RFO RM Talande reached the spot, only the collar was found. An intense search of the spot with the help of the forest dog squad failed to reveal anything. A day later, the police dog squad again went near the spot. The dog sat near the spot where the tiger was buried but it was done so meticulously that the foresters got no clues.
On Thursday morning, when a search team from Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary (UKWS) led by ACF GP Bobde, Paoni RFO DadaRaut and honorary wildlife warden Roheet Karoo went to the spot looking at the last GPS location of Srinivas, they noticed some electric wires near a farm. A labourer gave them a clue about a tiger being buried in the farm.
"When farm owner Irpate was summoned and quizzed, he spilt the beans. First, he and his kin from Sindewahi tried to burn the carcass but finding it difficult, both buried it in a three-foot-deep pit," said Karoo.
As reported by TOI earlier, Jai, who too moved in the same landscape, is feared to have met the same fate in April last near Paoni. Despite massive search operations, Jai, which too was radio collared, could not be located. The spot where Sriniwas was buried connects UmredKarhandla Wildlife Sanctuary to Tadoba and Andhari Tiger Reserve through splintered green corridors.
Sriniwas and Bittu were born to Jai and tigress Chandi in the Gothangaon range of UmredKarhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in 2014. Bittu too has been radio collared.
Wildlife lovers and experts are shocked and have blamed the forest department and WII for the mess. "We cannot blame researchers and WII for electrocution but certainly it shows repeated mistakes in radio collaring and post-collaring monitoring. The in-charge scientist should be held responsible so that they carry out such an activity in future with more seriousness and greater responsibility," said former member National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) KishorRithe.
Bilal Habib, the WII scientist who was in charge of the radio collaring, said, "It was due to the radio collar that the location of Srinivas could be known and culprits could be nabbed. Collaring does not guarantee immortality to the tiger. It is a method to identify behaviour of animals and movement paths. Many big cats would have met such a fate and would have gone undetected as there would be no clue as to what happened to them."
However, SaroshLodhi of Conservation and Lenses (CLaW), told TOI that the WII had downplayed fears of poaching assuming the collar cannot be tampered with. "The WII should come clear on collaring and post-monitoring if tigers here," he said.
Wildlife spokesperson & DFO GK Vashishtha admitted Srinivas death case is an eye-opener. "We need to fill the gaps by strong monitoring of tigers in the area."
