Activists, AAP members demand rescue of cubs

Mumbai: Social activists and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Saturday demanded that tigress Avni’s cubs be rescued from the forest. Avni, a five-year-old, alleged man-eater tigr-ess, which had created terror in state’s Vidarbha forests, was shot dead last Saturday near Borati village in Yava-tmal disrtrict, drawing flak from animal activ-ists and AAP. In the pre-ss meet held, AAP leader Preeti Sharma-Menon demanded that chief minister Devendra Fad-navsi call a team from Madhya Pradesh and save Avni’s cubs, which must be hungry since 13 days. The party also te-rmed the probe set up in-to the killing as a farce.

Ms Menon said that according to the Nat-ional Tiger Conserva-tion Authority (NTCA), a tiger has to come out of its own territory into human settlements, poa-ch on humans as its prey, and kill and eat the flesh of humans habitually to be labeled a man-eater. “Avni never left her own territory. The alleged killings by her had long gaps ruling out habitual behavior. There are sev-en tigers in this zone and all the killings appear to be chance encounters. The night hunting, that too without a veterinarian, is a clear case of hunting and poaching and cannot be termed as a government effort,” she said.

The AAP leader also said that the initial findings of the post mortem report clearly show that the needle of the tranquilizing dart was in the sub-coetaneous region. “If it was fired from the range of eight to 10 metres, it would have nestled deep into the muscles, but this precarious dart continued to hang from her skin during her supposed attack. This is stuff that even children will not believe. The conversation of two forest officials that it was cosmetically added later seems to ring true,” she claimed.

The AAP also alleged that the inquiry committee appointed by the ministry of environm-ent and forest is unacceptable as it strangely included a member of an NGO, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), which was complicit in the killing. It is ludicrous that they will investigate their own operation, it said.