Missing tiger Yuvraj killed near Ranthambore
By IANS
Friday December 28, 11:48 AM
Jaipur, Dec 28 (IANS) Yuvraj, the tiger that went missing from Rajasthan’s Ranthambore national park two months ago, has been killed by poachers.
The tiger was killed in November and one of the poachers Ramswaroop has been arrested by the forest department, forest officials said.
‘Ramswaroop has confessed to the killing of the tiger, though we have not been able to collect the tiger skin or any other items from him,’ an official said.
‘After the disappearance of the tiger from the park, we conducted an enquiry in the nearby villages, where we learnt that the tiger had been killed by Ramswaroop from Indergarh village. Even his wife Rampati accepted that her husband killed the tiger,’ a senior forest official, Sudarshan Sharma, told IANS Friday.
Ramswaroop, a daily wage labourer, confessed during interrogation that seven more people were involved in the killing of the tiger.
He said the tiger was shot dead in the jungles of Indergarh near Ranthambore in Sawai Madhopur district, some 175 km from here. The gun belonged to his friends.
‘We are conducting further investigations into the incident and also searching for his accomplices,’ the official said.
The tiger had gone missing from the park two months ago and the forest department had set up several teams to find the animal.
The department had also announced a cash prize of Rs.1,100 to anyone who could give information about the tiger.
The park is one of the finest tiger reserves in the country. It covers an area of around 400 sq. km and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1957. It got the status of a national park in 1981.
According to a recent census, there were 32 tigers in the park – up from 26 in 2005.
‘The state has already lost all its tigers from Sariska tiger reserve due to poaching. The government should have been more serious on these issues. But it seems the government has not learned from its past mistakes. If poaching continues then the day is not far when state would lose all its wild cats,’ said Naresh Kadyan of the non-governmental organisation People for Animals (PFA), Haryana.
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