Panna tigers were poached

Most of the big cats in MP’s Panna tiger reserve were killed by poachers, a special investigation team set up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has said while trashing state officials’ claim that the endangered animals died natural deaths. “The tigers wouldn’t have mysteriously disappeared had they died due to natural causes. Poachers were highly active on the park’s periphery and killed all the big cats,” said a member of the SIT, led by former NTCA director P K Sen. The team, which recently said there was not a single tiger left in Panna, has investigated the reasons for the tigers’ disappearance from the park which, two years ago, had a healthy tiger population. The report was submitted to the environment ministry on Monday. “While the poachers were on a killing spree, the officials were in denial mode about their existence,” Sen said. “What’s worse, the poachers seem to be active till today as they have killed a lone tiger roaming outside the park.” This means the two tigresses that were relocated to Panna in March from Bandavgarh and Kanha sanctuaries are under threat. Meanwhile, Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, who got the report on Wednesday, said “accountability would be fixed” for exaggerated projections of the tiger population and their disappearance from Panna.