Animal rights supporters and wildlife photographers held a candlelight vigil at Indira Park here on Sunday, demanding that Central government investigate the alleged clandestine shifting of a tiger from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan earlier this month.
Around 200 people who participated pledged their support to the country-wide protest against moving a wild tiger, Ustad, to a zoo in Udaipur. The tiger had allegedly mauled a forest guard, prompting the forest department of Rajasthan to move the animal to the zoo.
Activists who participated in the protest cast a suspicion over the manner of the tiger’s removal.
“No protocol or procedure was followed. The authorities simply labelled Ustad a ‘man-eater’ when it was known that another tiger too was in the same area where the guard was mauled,” said G. Jitender, a wildlife photographer. He also said that Ustad’s removal jeopardized the tiger’s two cubs as another male prowling the area could kill the cubs to take over the territory.
Hotel lobby to blame?
The activists demanded that the government investigate the role of the hotelier lobby in the park, which according to them, wanted to keep its tourist footfall intact by having wild tigers that could be a threat to humans, removed.
