Days after a ranger at Ranthambore Tiger Sanctuary was killed by a young tigress, forest officials said Wednesday they had tranquilised the animal.
Officials said they had tranquilised a named Kankati, believed to have mauled the forest ranger, Devendra Chaudhary, to death May 11. She is also suspected to have been behind the death of a 7-year-old near the Trinetra Ganesh Temple within the sanctuary on April 16.
The two deaths, coming within a month of each, had caused panic in the area.
The tigress was spotted in the periphery of Kutalpura village at around 6 am Wednesday, causing panic and prompting residents to call the forest department, officials said, adding that it took them two hours to tranquilise the animal, officials said.
According to sources, the department was forced to help feed Kankati’s mother because she was getting old and was unable to hunt for herself. As a result, officials now suspect that the young Kankati had lost her natural wariness of humans, leading to the attacks.
The tigress will be kept in an enclosure till further decision. Attempts to reach the state forest department have been unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government has constituted a six-member committee to provide day-to-day monitoring and technical guidance to help prevent such incidents.
The committee, constituted under the SOP issued in 2012 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, would have P. Kathirvel, Chief Conservator of Forests, Bharatpur, as one of the members of the committee.
“The said committee will be free to give any other suggestion/option and the committee should send its report as early as possible in view of the circumstances,” a circular from the state forest department.
