THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, June 26: A rescued male adult tiger was first taken down to the Silli police station! It is far more surprising than any amusement.
Deputy Director, South Division of Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) Kumar Ashish who was one of the members of the rescue team told the Jharkhand Story correspondent on Thursday, “Not many know we took the rescued male adult tiger in the automatic cage first to the Silli police station. It was not for any drawing of legal proceeding.”
“We took the rescued tiger to the Silli police station just to keep it away from the madding crowd of people who were vying with each other for taking a selfie with the tiger in a cage”, added Ashish.
“The tiger in the cage was by then under the influence of the sedation (read tranquillisation). It needed rest and peace. This stopover at the Silli police station was expressly for the purpose of rest and peace for the tiger,” reiterated the Deputy Director, South Division of PTR.
Asked if the automatic cage was properly bolted or had the tiger in the cage ever tried to unhinge its door, to which Ashish said, “The tiger was just shaking it most aggressively. We were apprehensive about what if there happened any goof up in the automatic cage.”
“The cage was inspected minutely by the team to rule out any chance of escape for the tiger inside. The crowd didn’t disturb us here at the Silli police station. Cops there gave a big helping hand,” he added.
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No Food or Water Given as Tiger was Sedated
Was the tiger given any food and water, as it was as traumatised as the crowd of people was boisterous?
“The vets monitoring this tiger asked for no food and water to be given to this tiger. A wild tiger in captivity hardly takes food,” reminded that PTR officer.
The tiger had not preyed any of the six goats of Poorunder Mahto, in whose two-room house this tiger had strayed into.
Mahto’s daughter, showing great presence of mind and courage, got this tiger locked in one of the two rooms.
Mahto’s house is quite close to West Bengal’s Purulia district. Again, his house is away from the cluster of houses at Mardo village. Goats might have tempted this touring tiger to trespass on the house of Mahto.
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Unclear Origin: Bengal or Palamu Tiger Reserve?
Whose tiger is this? West Bengal or Jharkhand’s Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR)?
“Palamu Tiger Reserve stakes its claim to this tiger but with caution and reservation since stripes of this rescued tiger are yet to be verified and compared with tigers which had been to this tiger reserve in the past one or two years,” PTR Deputy Director said.
Wildlife officials are tight-lipped about its new destination after rescue for the purpose of its safety. The Jharkhand Story will not delve into this aspect after all, where the tiger is now.
Two attempts were made to dart it. One failed. It fell into the cage. Just one dart hit this tiger. The tiger didn’t become unconscious. It continued roaring and roaring, perhaps repenting to come into the human habitation!
The rescued male adult tiger was not transported by the BOMA truck. It was shipped by a rescue van gifted to the PTR by the ICICI Bank.
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Crowd Chaos Complicates Rescue Operation
About crowd management during the rescue operation of the wildlife, Ashish said, “It’s a huge task. The crowd distracts us. Wildlife too gets into panic mode. People just want to capture every single second in their cameras. It leads to a kind of pandemonium.”
This is the first episode of its nature when a big and healthy male tiger has been so rescued from the house of a villager.
About around two decades ago, an adult leopard was rescued in Palamu’s Chainpur block, where this leopard had walked into the house of a tribal widow who was preparing a feast for the christening of her grandson and mutton was in abundance in the house of the tribal widow.
A vernacular Hindi journalist was badly injured by the leopard when the journalist went too close to the window of the room where this leopard was locked in.
SEH Kazmi, a well-known IFS officer who was in the Project Tiger Directorate then had a flawless rescue of this leopard.
Wildlife gets hurt or inflicts injuries to itself also during such rescue and here in this case of the rescue of the male adult tiger, there was abundant care and caution so as not to cause any injury or discomfort to the Big Cat.
