-AndrewYule.jpg "Andrew Yule")
Lest we forget Jhurjhura tigress
The CID is yet to file the charge sheet
| New Delhi | April 26 2011
View Image Gallery
‘Wilderness Days’, the wildlife photo exhibition put up by Raheja Productions in Delhi last week was an exhibition with a difference. Yes, it did showcase our natural wonders – as one would have expected. But for its theme, it picked up the issue which is still burning a hole in the hearts of wildlife lovers all across India and even abroad.
The issue concerns the sudden and mysterious death of a young tigress – now fondly remembered as Jhurjhura tigress – in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh National Park last year.
The death of Jhurjhura tigress has brought into sharp relief the archaic, and largely ineffective, wildlife laws which ensure that the culprits escape with minimal penalty. It has also turned out to be a litmus test for our conservation efforts, and the way we govern our dwindling wildlife.
To recap the tragic story and its ongoing ripple effects: The young tigress, mother of three small cubs, was found dead in a water-hole at Jhurjhura area of Bandhavgarh on May 19, 2010. Autopsy revealed that it had died of internal haemorrhage. Circumstantial evidence revealed that it was hit by a vehicle carrying a few powerful politicians of Madhya Pradesh, along with some forest officials of Bandhavgarh.
Initial attempts by vested interests to hush up the tigress’ death proved futile. This particular tigress had become wildlife photographers’ delight, and within days hundreds of social networking sites were screaming murder – demanding immediate arrests and punishment to the guilty.
From May 19 onwards, the park’s field director C K Patil pitched his camp in the area, supervising investigations from all possible angles. In June end, following Patil’s strong recommendations, the state government handed over the case to the CID.
It was a heroic decision – when did you last hear of CID probing a tiger’s death?
Unfortunately, the case is dragging on. As one would have feared, efforts are still on to derail the investigations. Last heard, the CID was in the process of fine-tuning the charge sheet.
The outcome of the issue would be crucial from several points of view. For one, the accused are no ordinary poachers or pot-hunters – they are people with right connections in the corridors of power. A clear-cut conviction – Mr Patil and the entire forest staff of Bandhavgarh are waiting for one – would effectively set the cat among the pigeons fattened by political and bureaucratic patronage.
We are fighting for Justice for Jhurjhura since her death on May 18th Lat year.UDAI the NGO was the first to release the photo of the limping tigress after she was hit by the vehicle on June 2 2011 in Delhi news Papers.
We collected Photographs from across the globe and started with the moving Photo Exhibition which is ongoing.
The devoted mother of 3 cubs was found dead on May 18th 2010 in one of India's best managed reserves, Bandhavgarh.Having sired 2 previous litters of cubs, she left 3 young orphans facingan uncertain future. Perhaps an entire generation of Bandhavgarh's Tigers destroyed by a lunatic behind the wheel of a jeep!!
On the 18th May 2010 people illegally entering the park in jeeps for a “night drive” had mortality wounded the tigress that subsequently died. The tigress was repeatedly hit by one of the jeeps until she was immobile. A senior forest officer has been suspended from duty over his possible involvement in the crime.
Besides loosing a comparatively young tigress the matter of the little cubs has not been considered. The park authority who promised providing food and some protection for the cubs with the mention to place the cubs in a safe area within the boundary of the reserve until they are of an age that they can be released into the wild could not take care of a cub. A cub died on Aug 6 2010. The skeleton of the cub found which opens up the MP FD closet of false promises of all 3 cubs being healthy and alive for last 3 months!
Although nothing can be done to bring back this tigress I just hope that the perpetrators of this wicked crime will be brought before the court of justice and pay the price for their selfish intrusion into the tiger reserve at night and slaying of one of India’s much needed tigress’s. I hope that one of her female cubs from this litter will now settle and take over her mother’s home range to continue the dynasty of a beautiful tigress.
The dead Jhurjhura tigress in Bandhavgarh now represents all those tigers that died an untimely death in the hands of humans.
we have collected more than 54,000 signatures demanding justice for Jhurjhura...support the cause https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.431787462565.211964.743062565
Post new comment