Lucknow : In the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve of Uttar Pradesh, four tigers had died in the past. Due to which many big officers posted there were removed, after which a committee was formed for investigation. Now the inquiry committee constituted has submitted its report to the government. According to the report, the death of two tigers in the incident has been attributed to a mutual conflict, while the cause of death of two other tigers was the spread of infection in the body.
The committee highlighted the problems going on in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, stating that all these incidents are happening due to lack of field staff in the reserve and lack of proper patrolling in the forest. The committee has also made recommendations to the government to prevent recurrence of such incidents. Between April and June last, four tigers were found dead in Dudhwa and surrounding areas.
Shortly after this, taking the death of four tigers seriously, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed Minister of State for Forests (Independent Charge) Arun Kumar Saxena and senior officials of the department to immediately go to the spot and find out the reasons for the incident. On his instructions, the Forest Minister and senior officials went to Dudhwa to investigate.
Significantly, in this case, many officers and employees including Dudhwa’s director, deputy director and Kheri’s divisional forest officer were removed. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of retired Indian Forest Service officer and former MD of Forest Corporation Sanjay Singh for a detailed investigation of the matter. The members of the committee were retired Chief Conservator of Forests RK Singh, Deputy Director of Lucknow Zoological Park Dr. Utkarsh Shukla and Dr. Yogesh Pratap Singh, physician of Gorakhpur Zoological Park. The committee has submitted its report to the government after going to Dudhwa to investigate.
Tiger’s death due to septic weed infection
According to the report, the reason for the death of the tiger on April 21 was septic shock (physical infection), while the tiger which was found dead on May 31, died due to mutual conflict. The tiger died on June 3 due to acute bronchitis. On the other hand, the death of the tiger on June 9 was also the result of a mutual struggle. The committee has said in the report that the Tiger Reserve is facing shortage of field staff. There more than half of the posts of forester and forest guard are vacant.
The committee has recommended recruitment to these posts on a war footing. The committee has also said that apart from Project Tiger and Project Elephant, financial support is available for Tiger Reserve or Elephant Reserve from Campa Project, but the funds received from them are not released on time. Due to this, practical difficulties are coming in the conservation of wildlife.