Why no new attacks if tigress T1 is a maneater?: HC to Forest Dept

Most wanted tigress T1 cant be a maneater after wildlife activists a forensic expert has now voiced this doubt unconvinced by the Forest Departments theory that the big cat has killed 13 people in Yavatmal over two years The expert veterinarian Dr Prayag H S is a senior PhD scholar at KVAFSUBengaluru and was a part of the operation to capture T1Three days ago Mumbaibased activist Dr Sarita Subramanium and Nagpurbased wildlife lover Dr Jerryl Banait had approached the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court appealing that controversial shooter Shafat Ali Khan be removed from the operation as he was not an expert in tranquillisingThe petitioners brought to the courts notice that the operation going on in Pandharkawda and Ralegaon in Nagpur to track T1 and her cubs has hundreds of people associated with the forest department involved in it and as part of the search they enter the forest daily yet there has been no attack on anyone of them The court has asked the forest department to explain why no attacks have happened in the area where the tigress has been for over a month if she is a maneaterT1 captured on a camera trapUnanswered questionsDr Prayag H S said While the state forest department claims T1 is a maneater there is no concrete evidence to prove she killed 13 people Forest officials and police personnel didnt carry out a proper sceneofcrime investigation so how can they conclude that based on circumstantial evidenceThe expert told midday that before labeling any animal as a maneater authorities need to adopt a scientific approach and secure evidence which has not been done in this caseNot a single guideline laid down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority or even the Standard Operating Procedure to declare an animal a maneater has been met In all 13 cases there is no eyewitness barring one case where a person saw the tigress dragging a persons body But for all we know that person could have died earlier and the tigress happened to find the body he addedHe also said that if the tigress had eaten those people human DNA would have been found in her scat but that too didnt classify her as a maneater The forest department did not carry out a scat analysis in the area where T1 allegedly killed humans And even if DNA analysis had been done the result would only prove a tigers presence at the spot and give the big cats gender it wouldnt identify the animal in this case say it was T1 unlessofficials carry out individual identification by microsatellite markersPostmortem reports inconclusiveAnother shocking fact is that none of the postmortem reports say the humans were killed by a tiger they only mention the word carnivore The postmortem should have been conducted by a panel of doctors in the presence of a wildlife veterinarian who has a better understanding of wildlife attacks he concludedRumour has itEven as the operation to track down T1 and her cubs continues news came on Wednesday evening that the tigress had charged at three members of STPF involved in the search operation Activists have however slammed the news and called it deliberate rumourmongering Despite being aware of the tigresss presence in the area the STPF members were sent to search without any veterinarian or sharpshooter along and yet she did not attack anyone The attack rumour is being spread so that the forest department and shooters can claim to have killed her in selfdefence if they find her a wildlife lover told midday When contacted PCCF A K Misra was unavailable for comment midday also reached out to CCF Yavatmal territorial Pradip Rahurkar who said I cannot comment on anything at the momentCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates