MM Hills tiger deaths raised in Lok Sabha

Time of India

6 days ago

Mysuru: The killing of a tigress and her four cubs inside the MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary has now echoed even inside the Lok Sabha. The DMK and TMC MPs raised the issue in the ongoing Lok Sabha session.
It can be recalled that on June 26, the tigress and her four cubs were found dead inside the sanctuary, which led to widespread anger against the forest department over its failure to save the big cats.
DMK member A Raja and Sougata Ray of TMC raised the issue through an unstarred question. In his reply, Union minister Kirti Vardhan Singh informed that a SIT advised various interventions to bring down the wild animal-human conflict in the region.
It can be recalled that the forest department arrested three locals with the help of district police. The accused allegedly killed the tigress and her cubs using carbofuran poison as revenge for killing their cow. In his reply, the minister confirmed that the SIT, based on evidence collected during the investigation, concluded that the tigers were killed in retaliation by lacing a cattle carcass with the pesticide Carbofuran, by a group of three who were arrested within 48 hours.
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According to the Lok Sabha documents, the SIT submitted its report to the govt and suggested notifying the Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve for additional protection and financial assistance, which has already been approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA), 1972. Inter-alia, the SIT recommended welfare measures for frontline staff, filling up staff vacancies, conflict management strategies with local communities, educational outreach, improving habitat and prey-base, besides developing monitoring protocols.
According to the activists, there is nothing new in the SIT recommendations. "All the local issues and problems faced by the frontline staff were known to the forest department even before the incident," said activist Joseph Hover, former member of the wildlife board.
"It is sad that MPs from other states raised questions about the killing of the tigress and her cubs. The state MPs are silent spectators to all the attacks on our forest," he said.