USTAD …. “Man-killer or victim of human interference?”
An activist has moved the Delhi high court to save a Ranthambore tiger, better known as Ustad, from losing his freedom over what he says are unproven charges of being a man-killer.
The male tiger believed to have killed four humans was shifted on Saturday from Ranthambore National Park to Sajjangarh Biological Park in Udaipur in a highly secretive move, drawing a sharp rebuke from the country’s highest tiger conservation body for alleged violation of standard operating procedure.
The eight-year-old tiger, officially known as number T-24, will be kept in captivity at Sajjangarh, forest department sources said.
A PIL filed on Ustad’s relocation by a wildlife enthusiast who visits Ranthambore every three months alleged the tiger had been wrongfully accused of being a man-eater without any evidence.
The decision to translocate Ustad was made “without scientific probe or investigation”, and in response to public pressure, it said.
Sources said…
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