CHENNAI: A UP-based animal activist and Chennai-based People for Cattle in India (PFCI) have moved the Madras high court challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to hunt Mudumalai’s tiger T23 that killed three people in villages around the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
Sangeeta Dogra has alleged that the deaths are result of wilful failure on the part of the Tamil Nadu forest department in managing human-animal conflict.
The petitioner further alleged that the authorities had issued an order to hunt the tiger under Section 11(1)(a) of the Wildlife Protection Act without following due process of law and without declaring the animal as a threat to humans based on scientific study.
Stating that the forest authorities had to follow and implement even Supreme Court orders pertaining to tiger and wildlife conservation, the petitioner wanted the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the department.
According to the PFCI, the order to hunt the tiger is in direct contravention of Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act which prohibits hunting of wild animals specified in the schedules of the Act, which includes tigers.
Even when a tiger becomes dangerous to human life as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, under no circumstances a tiger shall be eliminated by invoking the Wildlife (Protection) Act if the animal was not ‘habituated for causing human death,’ the PFCI said.
“Elimination of the animal should always be the last resort of the chief wildlife warden after exhausting all the other options available for capturing the animal alive,” PFCI added.
Therefore, the petitioner wanted the court to call for the records of the order dated October 1 and quash the same and direct the authorities to capture the tiger alive.
Both the pleas are likely to be taken up by the first bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee on Monday.
Sangeeta Dogra has alleged that the deaths are result of wilful failure on the part of the Tamil Nadu forest department in managing human-animal conflict.
The petitioner further alleged that the authorities had issued an order to hunt the tiger under Section 11(1)(a) of the Wildlife Protection Act without following due process of law and without declaring the animal as a threat to humans based on scientific study.
Stating that the forest authorities had to follow and implement even Supreme Court orders pertaining to tiger and wildlife conservation, the petitioner wanted the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the department.
According to the PFCI, the order to hunt the tiger is in direct contravention of Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act which prohibits hunting of wild animals specified in the schedules of the Act, which includes tigers.
Even when a tiger becomes dangerous to human life as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, under no circumstances a tiger shall be eliminated by invoking the Wildlife (Protection) Act if the animal was not ‘habituated for causing human death,’ the PFCI said.
“Elimination of the animal should always be the last resort of the chief wildlife warden after exhausting all the other options available for capturing the animal alive,” PFCI added.
Therefore, the petitioner wanted the court to call for the records of the order dated October 1 and quash the same and direct the authorities to capture the tiger alive.
Both the pleas are likely to be taken up by the first bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee on Monday.
