Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered an inquiry into the death of three tigers in Dudhwa National Park, situated in Lakhimpur Kheri district of UP, in less than two weeks. The latest case of death of a tiger in Lakhimpur Kheri reserve came to light on Friday. The other two instances of tiger deaths were reported on May 31 and June 3.
The CM has taken cognizance of the frequent deaths of tigers in Dudhwa National Park. He has ordered Forest Minister, Additional Chief Secretary of Forest Department and other officers of the Forest Department to immediately visit Dudhwa National Park to conduct a thorough investigation.
Additional Chief Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) Manoj Singh, Head of Forest Force Mamata Sanjeev Dubey and Chief Wildlife Warden Sunil Chaudhary rushed to Dudhwa soon after the CM’s directives. Forest minister Arun Saxena, who was in Bareilly, is also expected to join the probe team.
However, Mr Saxena told media that definitely the death of tigers is happening continuously, but, even after this, all the incidents appear to be of mutual conflict only. The latest case is pointing in this direction, he said.
The officials, however, say that they are waiting for the postmortem reports of the two tigers, only after which, further action will be decided.
While the tiger found dead on May 31 was suspected to have died after a violent fight with another tiger. These speculations are being made on the basis of injury marks seen on his body. The postmortem of the second tiger revealed that it might have died of starvation. Forest officials said that it could not have hunted because of its broken teeth.
“After the post-mortem report of the first two tigers is out, we are waiting for the report of the third,” Ms Dubey said. “We will probe the circumstances that led to the death of the three tigers and prepare a report,” he added.
The Dudhwa National Park, which is reported to have over 100 tigers, is spread over an area of 490 square kilometres and is a major tourist site.
It was declared a tiger reserve in 1987 after it was found to have a significant population of Bengal tigers. The reserve is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including leopards, elephants, sloth bears, and over 450 species of birds.
