Avni, the 'man-eating' tigress, believed to be responsible for 14 deaths in Maharashtra's Yavatmal, was shot dead on the night of Friday, 2 November, ANI reported. A massive hunt operation spanning two months was launched by the Forest Department with over 200 personnel, drones, trained sniper dogs and trap cameras.
According to ANI, the post-mortem of tigress Avni will be conducted at Nagpur's Gorewada Rescue Centre. There is no update on her cubs.
The Supreme Court in September had upheld the high court order which said that the forest department would have to try to tranquilise her first, and, in case of failure, shoot her.
“T1 has been shot dead in Forest Development Corporation Maharashtra (FDCM) area in compartment number 149 Borati. The spot panchnama was conducted between 1 am and 3 am and the carcass was immediately shifted to Gorewada Rescue Centre at Nagpur for post-mortem. Entire process will be video graphed.”Forest officials, to Times of India
T1(as she was also known) was shot by sharp-shooter Asgar Ali.
“Urine of another tigress and American perfume was spread in some part of the compartment, following which Avni came by sniffing it.”
He added that the officials tried to trap her alive.
“The forest officials initially tried to nab her alive. However, due to dense forest and darkness, they were unable to do so and finally a bullet was fired in which the tigress fell on the spot.”
However, sources told TOI he was shot dead without any efforts to tranquilise.
“Local vets can always succumb to pressure from forest officials. As it is as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) protocol on capturing problem tigers, darting is prohibited from sunset to sunrise. Even if the forest department claims that attempts to dart T1 were done, these must have been done in the night, which is illegal,” sources told TOI.
The locals celebrated Avni’s death.
Was Avni a Man-Eater?
The forest department maintained that the big cat was responsible for at least nine deaths.
The department said they were trying hard to get to a 'touching distance' of the tigress to dart her with a tranquiliser for the last six months, but have failed. Attempts to tranquilise her had failed due to various reasons, including the terrain in the forest area, the counsel representing the forest department had told the court in September.
At the time, the petitioners told a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that if the tigress was shot dead, both her cubs would not be able to survive in the forest.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for another petitioner, told the court that even if people entering the forest area get killed by the tigress, that does not make her a 'man-eater'.
"A distinction has to be made between a tigress killing a human and a habitual man-eater," he said. Several online petitions had challenged the order.
(With inputs from Times of India, PTI)
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