Guwahati: The Forest Department suspended one forest official after it was found that a Royal Bengal Tiger was killed due to his “unwarranted firing” back on June 18 at the Japori Patha Village in Kaziranga.
The post-mortem of the dead tiger stated that an injury caused due to a bullet had gone through the lungs and heart of the big cat causing its death.
A statement issued by Kaziranga National Park authority stated, “An inquiry conducted by the Assistance Conservator of Forests into the incident revealed that the firing was unwarranted, based on which the staff was suspended.”
A carcass of a Royal Bengal tiger was detected by the staff of Bheroni camp under Kohora Range of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve on the morning of June 18, 2021, in Japoripathar village. As per preliminary information, the tiger died due to a gunshot injury during a conflict event, fired by forest personnel of the said camp.
As per Kaziranga authorities, the post mortem was conducted as per NTCA protocols which revealed a bullet injury through the lungs and the heart. An inquiry conducted by the Assistant Conservator of Forests into the incident revealed that the firing was unwarranted based on which the staff concerned was suspended.
A statement by the forest department further added, “It is pertinent to mention that the said tiger killed a cow the previous afternoon probably because of the fact that it had three worn-out canines while one was missing. The old age of the tiger was corroborated by the annual tiger monitoring data available with Kaziranga as well as the NTCA Tiger Cell at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun which showed that it was photo captured during 2014 All India Tiger Estimation cycle.”