A tigress by the name of ‘Avni’ in the Loni forest of Maharashtra’s is accused of being a man-eater and given a death sentence by Maharashtra Forest Department and Bombay High Court.
Avni, a mother of two, will be shot as soon as it is sighted. A hunter named Nawab Shafaat Ali Khan from Hyderabad has been reportedly hired by the Maharashtra Forest Department to shoot Avni, This decision led to the protest as hundreds of wildlife activists went on the march in Nagpur.
As per reports, the Maharashtra forest department had claimed that Avin, along with two of her cubs, had consumed 60 per cent of a human corpse, which led to the decision of declaring her as a ‘man-eater’. Avni, reportedly, had claimed at least 9 till now.
Social media users have started a campaign #LetAvniLive. A petition on Change.org meanwhile is trying to build support around the idea that if Avni is indeed a threat, it should be tranquilised, not killed straightaway.
The forest department in its response has said that while they have been trying to reach ‘touching distance’ of the tigress to dart her with a tranquilliser for months, but they have failed. The Supreme Court upheld the ‘shoot-at-sight’ notice against the tigress.
[source_without_link]SIASAT NEWS[/source_without_link]