A tigress that had been terrorising parts of Maharashtra's Amravati district for the past week was finally trapped by forest officials, but died on the way to treatment shortly after being tranquilised. The tigress had been blamed for killing three people, and her sudden death just minutes after capture has left forest officers themselves stunned.
Terror in Morshi, Chandur Bazar and Tivsa
For the past seven days, the tigress had been moving through the Morshi, Chandur Bazar and Tivsa areas of Amravati district, killing three people and triggering widespread fear among local residents. A day earlier, a forest department team finally managed to tranquilise and capture her, but she died on the way while being taken for treatment. The forest department is now trying to establish the exact cause of death. Notably, in July, a father in Nagpur had jumped into a dam along with his son after spotting a tiger at close range, and both had drowned in that incident.
Teams from Chandrapur, Nagpur and Pune, tracked by drone
To capture the aggressive tigress, the forest department did not rely on the Amravati team alone but also called in experts from Chandrapur, Nagpur and Pune. Near a farm in Sonori village, Dr Hemraj, chief veterinarian of Pune's RESQ Charitable Trust, fired a tranquiliser dart at the tigress. The team then began monitoring her with a drone so they could track her location once the sedative took effect. Within minutes, the tigress collapsed unconscious in a nallah about one kilometre from the spot, after which the forest department team took her into custody immediately.
Given oxygen at a school en route to Paratwada, then died
The tigress was being taken to the Paratwada centre for treatment. On the way, she was given oxygen at a school in Morshi to keep her condition stable. But she died in the midst of this. Her death, coming only a short while after she was tranquilised, stunned the forest staff and veterinarians present, since she had appeared to be in normal condition at the time of capture.
Forest department launches probe, sedative dose under scrutiny
Following the tigress's sudden death, the Amravati forest department has launched a full investigation into the case. Officials are trying to determine whether the dose of the sedative used to tranquilise her was higher than necessary, or whether some other factor caused her death. K R Arjun, Deputy Conservator of Forest in Amravati, said that the real cause of death would only become clear once the postmortem report is available. Until then, the forest department is refraining from drawing any conclusions.
Another sign of rising man-animal conflict
Maharashtra has seen several such tiger-related incidents in recent months in which ordinary people have lost their lives. The Amravati case is another example of the growing man-wildlife conflict in areas bordering forests, where residents often live under constant threat. For now, the forest department's priority is to establish whether the tigress's death resulted from a lapse during the rescue operation or was a natural medical complication.
