Nagpur: A tiger’s carcass was found in an agricultural field at Bondri village of Mansar Round of Ramtek Forest Range on Saturday night. The Forest Department arrested two accused named Vinod Parteti (43), a resident of Kandri village, and Sanjay Thakkar (53), a resident of Nagpur in this case.
Forest guards noticed the carcass of the tiger while patrolling near the village. The patrolling team immediately informed the senior officials of the Forest Department. After getting the information, senior officials including Harbir Singh, ACF; Bhagat, RFO; G A Shete, Forest Guard; and B N Gomase, Forest Guard rushed to the spot and conducted panchnama of the carcass and the area, as per the directives of National Tiger ConservationAuthority (NTCA).
The panchanama took place in presence of Kundan Hate, Representative, NTCA; and Avinash Londhe, Representative, PCCF ( Wildlife) and Honorary Wildlife Warden. In the initial enquiry, the forest team found that this 5-6-year old tiger was killed due to electrocution. However, due to lack of light at the venue, the team decided to conduct the post-mortem on Sunday morning. Therefore, the carcass was sent to the Transit Treatment Centre (TTC), Seminary Hills in Nagpur.
The agricultural field where the carcass was found, is situated near Nagpur-Jabalpur National Highway and it is 3km away from Kandri village, which is close to Pench Tiger Reserve. According to forest officials, the tiger had likely come out from the Pench Forest and was venturing the agriculture land where it got electrocuted. In the last few months, many villages of Ramtek taluka are experiencing the venturing of wild animals near villages, with some incidents of man-animal conflict also taking place. As a result, so far, two human deaths and many cattle deaths have been reported due to wild animal attacks in Ramtek area.
To avoid man-animal conflict in villages and farm lands, the villagers placed electric wires in their farm lands. The officials are predicting that this tiger death took place due to such electric wires. On Sunday morning, the autopsy of the carcass and last rites took place in presence of Dr Bharat Singh Hada, DCF, Nagpur; Harbir Singh, ACF; Ajinkya Bhatkar, Representative, NTCA; Avinash Londhe, Representative, PCCF ( Wildlife); Dr Rajendra Rewatkar, Live Stock Officer, Kandri; Dr Smita Ramteke, Live Stock Officer, Sirsi; Dr Rohini Tembhurne, Veterinarian; Dr Sudarshan Kakde,Veterinarian, TTC; Dr Rajesh Fulsunge, Veterinarian, TTC; Dr Sujit Kolangat, Veterinarian, WRTC; Gorewada; and Kundan Hate. Further investigation is taking place under the supervision of Dr Hada and Harbir Singh.
