Dudhwa National Park Loses Seven Tigers in Five Years

Bengal tiger

It has been reported that India's forest mafia, which was infamous for cutting down hundreds of trees, has now laid its eyes in targeting the tiger. One particular place that has likely to have suffered in the hands of this powerful criminal syndicate is Dudhwa National Park in northern India. In spite of the special attention given by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Dudhwa's forest area is still facing the wrath of illegal poaching of tigers. While the deaths of tigers are still under investigation, the big question is regarding the security of the animals in the national park. The incidents in which the tiger carcasses were found indicated that poaching was the cause of the animals' deaths. It has been noted that seven tigers have died in the last five years in Dudhwa National Park. The first incident occurred four and a half years ago, where a carcass of a male tiger was found on Khutar Road. In 2009, a carcass of a tiger was found at the Bankey Ganj canal. A year later, another tiger carcass was found near the Paraspur checkpoint where the animal was electrocuted to death. That same year, another tiger carcass was found in the Paraspur area. Later, another tiger carcass was found entangled in the bushes near a farm at the Kishanpur range. Few days later, another tiger carcass was found in that area in which the animal was electrocuted to death. Then in 2011, a body of a tigress was found who had been hit by a DCM vehicle on Mailani Road. The most recent death occurred on Sunday after a tiger carcass was found at the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, marking the seventh death in the last five years.

Entrance to Dudhwa National Park

That one tiger, whose body was found in the wildlife sanctuary, was reported to have sustained injury marks all over the body and stinking badly. It is being determined that the animal's death had occurred three days ago. The forest department is currently waiting for a post-mortem to know the cause of its death. The animal's carcass was handed over to the warden of the Mailani area by Mohd Ahmad of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly. It is even said that the forest department's negligence has become the subject of focus after the carcass of the tiger was found. Two days before the incident, carcasses of two tigers were found at Pilibhit's Haripur range one after another. Both the animals had died under under unknown circumstances, which put Dudhwa National Park on high alert. However, at the same time, another tiger was found dead. When forest officials reached the spot where the animal had died, they stated that it had died as a result of infighting. Unfortunately, the injury marks on the animal's body were not those made by jaws or claws. Instead, the marks indicated that the tiger had been a victim of poaching. According to wildlife expert K.K Mishra, the tiger was electrocuted to death.

An Indian coal mine in Dhanbad allegedly dominated by the Mafia Raj.

I have a deep feeling that Dudhwa National Park is in a great need of help regarding its wildlife, especially tigers. It seems that over the period of five years, tigers had been dying of one by one under mysterious circumstances and the forest department has come under suspicion due to its negligence. But what truly shocks me about this report is that the perpetrators are suspected to be India's timber mafia. Originally responsible for the deforestation of wildlife habitats in the nation, this powerful criminal syndicate has now turned towards tigers as their prey of choice. It is said that individuals of this syndicate are very powerful in a sense that they can bribe the government, in order to carry out their illicit activities. For this reason, India is suffering from corruption because of such political bribing and manipulation that gives illegal organizations like the Mafia Raj the privilege to exploit our motherland's natural treasures. For this reason, I firmly believe that corruption is the cause of poaching and other illegal activities affecting India's natural environments and needs to be stopped by any means necessary. In addition to that, the government of India should also play its part in battling corruption and one way of doing it is to not accept bribes being given by these syndicates attempting to destroy the natural heritage of India.

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