Who is the beast? Villagers beat tigress to death, post-mortem shows broken ribs, punctured lungs

In one of the ugliest man-animal conflicts in recent times, a fully-grown tigress was brutally thrashed to death inside Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit Reserve. The incident was captured on camera that showed the angry villagers circling and beating the tigress with lathis. Shocking details in the post-mortem report revealed the extent of the unimaginable horror faced by the big cat. According to a report by The Hindustan Times, it was a five-year-old adult tigress. The report said that the villagers were angry after the tigress reportedly injured a man.

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"She had sustained fractures and injuries from sharp-edged weapons like spears on almost every part of her body. She also had broken ribs," Pilibhit Tiger Reserve field director H Rajamohan said while giving out the details of the autopsy. The forest officials came only after three hours. By that time, the tigress dragged herself back to the jungle, where she succumbed to injuries. The HT report said that an FIR has been filed against 31 named and 12 unidentified people. The accused have charged under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

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Meanwhile, the Modi government told Parliament that India lost 60 elephants and eight tigers to train accidents in the last three years. Responding to a query on death of animals due to train accidents, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said movement of wild animals in search of food and water brings them in close proximity to railway lines, leading to accidental deaths. According to the data provided by the minister, 60 elephants, eight tigers and one lion were killed in train accidents between 2016 and 2018-19.

According 2014 census, tiger populations in northern Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand is going south.  As per the “Status of Tigers in India, 2014” report, released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on January 20, except for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand, most of the tiger-range states have shown a substantial increase in tiger population.