Tiger killing: Forest guard transferred

Taking serious note of the laxity in handling the situation, the forest guard who shot dead a cattle-killer tiger at Moolankavu on December 2 has been transferred to the Bathery Wildlife Division Office from the Muthanga Forest Range.

The transfer came after a team of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) completed its visit to the district to collect evidence on the circumstances that led to the killing of the tiger.

The official would face further stringent action, said sources. It is learnt that the NTCA officials had also recommended action against the erring high-ranking forest officials in the district. The team was of the opinion that there was no need to kill the animal as two rounds of tranquillisers were fired at it. According to the evidence collected by the officials, the forest personnel who shot the tiger did not have a gun with him, but he forcefully seized a weapon from one of the armed members of the joint task force.

The NTCA officials also observed that the authorities failed to deploy forest and police forces to control the mob which resulted in a serious aggravation of the situation.  The team consisted of NTCA assistant inspector generals Sanjay Kumar, C M Sivakumar, Ravi Kiran Gowarker and Wildlife Protection Society of India project officer S Guruvayoorappan. They will submit a report to the Minister for Environment and Forests on Tuesday. The stray tiger which went on a cattle-killing spree in the Noolpuzha panchayat in Wayanad for 16 days was shot dead by Kerala Forest Department officials on December 2.