Kaziranga’s death toll rises

A tiger was found dead outside the Kohra forest range of Kaziranga recently, sparking suspicions of revenge killing by angry residents of adjoining villages. With this, the big cat death toll in the national park rose to three this year.
Forest officials ruled out a poaching bid for the corpse had not been mutilated and no organs were missing. Forest officials also hinted that the tiger might have been killed by a rhino.
Till this month, a total of 12 tigers have died in Kaziranga. Though the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau did not find direct involvement of poachers in those tiger deaths, wildlife conservationists warned that it was only a matter of time till tiger poaching becomes a serious issue as is the case of rhino poaching.

Pranab Kumar Das