The Forest Department’s decision to release the tiger, which was captured after a woman was killed in Pandaravalli village in Chikkamagaluru, has been strongly opposed by wildlife expert K. Ullas Karanth.
On November 17, two days before the department released the animal into Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, Mr. Karanth had written to the Director of Project Tiger and Chief Wildlife Warden that the tiger captured near the attack site (possibly the same one that killed the woman) and the tiger filmed chasing a vehicle three days prior to the attack, was the same sub-adult tiger identified as Bhadra_S5146 in his database.
“Given that Bhadra_S5146 had possibly stalked and hunted the woman and has shown aggressive behaviour towards humans earlier, it is clear that… [it] has lost its instinctive fear of humans. Releasing it back into the wild, anywhere, therefore poses significant potential risk of it killing humans again.”
Tigers can move over 200 to 300 km.
“Therefore, my strong advice is not to release this particular animal. Having killed a human, it is best held in captivity, and, being a young animal it will adapt reasonably well, I believe. Even releasing it with a radio-collar is not advisable because of all the trauma of captivity, the animal will become wary and will not be easy to capture again if it resumes human predation.”
