Three years on, India’s cheetah reintroduction struggles with poor science, delays, and missed grassland goals. In September 2022, the arrival of eight cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno National Park was hailed as a conservation milestone. Five months later in February 2024, 12 more spotted cats arrived from South Africa. The initiative, branded Project Cheetah, carried lofty ambitions. It aimed not just to restore the world’s fastest land animal to India’s landscapes, but to revive open natural ecosystems (ONEs) — the grasslands, scrublands, and savannahs that are among the country’s most neglected habitats. By reintroducing a top predator, policymakers hoped to spark wider conservation attention, diversify India’s wildlife portfolio beyond tigers and forests, and make ecological amends for a human-caused extinction. The Cheetah Action Plan set out a clear roadmap: import 5–10 cheetahs annually for a decade, create a metapopulation across multiple states, secure and restore grassland hab...
An injured tigress was shot dead in a busy market place near the world famous Corbett tiger reserve. Mystery shrouded the cold blooded killing of the big cat .Who killed the tiger- people of Marchula town where the tiger had strayed or the forest department personnel? The animal could have been easily rescued by a team of experts located few kms away from the spot.
10 Gun Shots And The Tigress Was Dead
The tigress was spotted in the night in the market of Marchula, a town dotted with resorts and restaurants catering to tiger tourism. Though there was no one on the roads of Marchula market, people were heard shouting “maro” “maro” ( shoot -shoot). They were also heard shouting “ yeh kal walla hai” ( this is the same as yesterday (sighting) ). This was followed by gunshots. A gun barrel was also seen coming out from the window of a white four-wheeler which was also charged by the tigress. Eyewitnesses said markets were closed and people went indoors after the tiger sighting. Director of the tiger reserve Dr Dheeraj Pandey confirmed that the tigress died of pellets and a forest guard has been booked for the incident. He said that around 9.15 pm on November 14, the animal had strayed to Marchula. After the tiger sighting, a forest department team had rushed to the spot.
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Mohanchandra Bhatta, Van Daroga , fired 8 -rounds in the air from his 315- bore service rifle. This was done to scare the tigress to ensure that the animal goes back to jungle but the situation deteriorated and the animal reached near the human settlement, Corbett director said . Another two rounds were fired from a 12-bore service rifle by Dheeraj Singh , a forest guard , and the bullets were fired on the ground to scare the animal. This was done because people were standing on rooftops and firing in air would have risked human life. Pellets from one of the two bullets from Dheeraj’s weapon injured the tigress and she died after excess bleeding. Dheeraj Singh has been booked under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, said the Corbett director. Singh has been attached to the Plain Range Office in Sendhikhal under Uttarakhand’s Kalagarh Tiger Reserve.
Why Was The Tiger Not Tranquilised
A senior official of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change said, “ there was a clear violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) while handling the crisis in Marchula ''. Prima facie, it appeared there was no attempt to tranquilise the tigress. In the very first attempt, as is clear from the press statement of the Corbett reserve, gunshots were fired. “When tiger can be killed by gunshots, it could have been tranquilised also to capture alive”, he explained. The post-mortem examination of the tigress, conducted on November 15 by a team of veterinary doctors, also confirmed that the big cat died of bullet injuries resulting in excessive bleeding.
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A 10-cm-long porcupine quill was also found penetrated in the animal’s liver and it had damaged the organ badly, the report said. The stomach and intestine of the animal were empty and the lungs were also damaged, it added. The death of the tigress had triggered a blame-game between government officials and local villagers on Tuesday. While the forest department claimed that villagers might have killed the tigress fearing getting attacked by it, local residents claimed that the vehicle used by people who allegedly shot dead the big cat resembled a forest department jeep. A video purportedly showing two shots being fired from a vehicle at the tigress in the Marchula market area was widely circulated on social media on Tuesday. In an increasing number of man tiger conflict, eleven people have been killed in tiger attacks in Uttarakhand this year, according to the the state forest department — the most in the last five years. Two people were killed last year in tiger attacks in the state while no death tiger attack death was reported in 2020. There were three tiger related deaths in 2019 and six deaths in 2018.
By Deshdeep Saxena
Tiger Images from the state forest department
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