BHUBANESWAR: A melanistic Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) was killed by poachers in Similipal Tiger Reserve, the world’s only habitat, where some estimated 20 black-striped cats remain, authorities said on Wednesday, after arresting four persons guilty of the crime.
The wildlife wing’s special enforcement cell confirmed that the animal poached and skinned was a sub-adult and news of its killing does not augur well for authorities who have translocated two female RBTs into its habitat to infuse fresh genes from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.
Sleuths seized the tiger’s hide and nails from the poachers and seized a weapon used for the killing.
Melanistic tigers have more black pigmentation or stripes on their body due to a genetic mutation, resulting in thicker, more pronounced stripes that often merge, giving them a darker appearance. The first reported sighting was made in 1975, but the breed was confirmed only in 1993 when a tiger was found killed. This is only the second instance of the rarest of the rare breed getting killed.
“Through intelligence we learned about some individuals possessing parts of the body of a big cat… Their arrest led us to the tiger skin and the fact that a melanistic cat had been killed,” said Similipal field director Prakash Gogineni.
All four poachers are from villages in the fringe areas and have been identified as Ajambar Naik alias Fatu (40), Pitambar Naik alias Daktar (45), Rama Naik alias Thalu (58) and Bairam Murmu alias Dudeibaba (30).
“The poachers confessed that they killed the tiger in Similipal while going to hunt some prey animals. They claim it was a male tiger, but we are verifying all their claims. We will bring them on remand for further interrogation. Also, for determination of age and sex, it will be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) laboratory,” Gogineni said, adding that the exact date of killing has not been ascertained yet.
The State Joint Task Force at wildlife headquarters visited Similipal on Wednesday to take stock of the situation and said they found only one gunshot wound visible on the hide, and the tiger could have been killed using a country-made gun from close range. Similipal has recently seen an augmentation of protection force with weapons, wildlife officials said, adding that the tiger may have moved towards the fringe zone and confronted the poachers.
“The way they have sawn off the hide doesn’t look professional. They had come to kill some prey animals and came face to face with the juvenile cat,” Gogineni further added.
The wildlife wing says in Similipal alone, 26 wildlife offences have been registered with the arrest of 89 poachers and the seizure of 86 country-made guns in the past 10 months.
