Preliminary report on tiger death case submitted

Bengaluru: In the wake of the unnatural deaths of five tigers in the Male Mahadeshwara Hills re-gion, Forest, Ecology, and Environment Minister Eshwar B. Khandre has recom-mended the suspension of Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Chakrapani and three other officers for dereliction of duty and gross negligence. The recommendation comes after reviewing the preliminary report submitted by the high-level inquiry committee appointed to probe the incident.

The Minister has sent the recommendation to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) citing prima facie evidence of administrative failure and irresponsibility in for-est protection.

The report points out that although funds were released at the end of April for the payment of outsourced forest staff salaries, the payments were delayed until June, resulting in low morale and absenteeism among frontline staff. This, the Minister em-phasized, was a major lapse on DCF Chakrapani’s part, directly affecting field patrol and vigilance efforts.

The preliminary findings reveal that the five tigers — an 11-year-old tigress and four cubs aged around 10-11 months — are believed to have died after consuming a poi-soned carcass of a cow that had been killed by a tiger. The carcass was allegedly laced with toxic chemical substances in an act of revenge, leading to the tigers’ death.

The report also highlighted complete failure in supervision and monitoring by key for-est officers including the ACF, RFO, and DRFO. These officers failed to maintain basic patrolling standards and were negligent in carrying out their core responsibili-ties, according to the Minister’s note.

A high-level committee led by Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ku-mar Pushkar submitted the preliminary findings. The panel includes PCCF (Wildlife) Srinivasulu, Chamarajanagar CCF Hiralal, NTCA AIG Harini Venugopal, noted wild-life expert Dr. Sanjay Gubbi, and Dr. Shashidhar, Assistant Director at Mysuru Zoo.

Minister Khandre has instructed the committee to submit the final report by July 10, and recommended that departmental inquiries be initiated against all four officials in-volved.