SC asks Karnataka, Centre to act on 5 tigers' death

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over death of five tigers in MM Hills sanctuary last month, Supreme Court on Wednesday sought Karnataka govt's response and asked the Union ministry of environment and forests to frame policy in consultation with states to end human-animal conflict, resulting in such avoidable tragic incidents.Amicus curiae and senior advocate P Parameshwaran placed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) report before a three-judge bench led by CJI B R Gavai and said it was a clear case of human-animal conflict as villagers poisoned a cattle carcass which was consumed by a tigress and her four cubs, resulting in their death. He said many cattle of surrounding villages strayed into the sanctuary and were attacked by wild animals, including tigers.

It required robust patrolling by forest staff, but it was not being done as the majority of forest staff were hired by contractors.The contractors did not provide these outsourced forest guards, employed in most tiger reserves and sanctuaries, any weapon or scientific equipment to effectively patrol the sanctuary and protect it from stray cattle and poachers, resulting in such unfortunate incidents, Parameshwaran said.

The bench asked additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati to ask the MoEF take the initiative by consulting all states and stakeholders to solve this staff issue. Bhati assured the court that it would be done. "This tragic incident underscores the urgent need for stronger preventive measures, including intensified patrolling, robust surveillance mechanisms like camera traps, community engagement to address human-wildlife conflict, rapid response protocols for carcass monitoring, and stricter enforcement of laws against wildlife poisoning to prevent recurrence of such deliberate killings," the CEC said in its report.

"Among the tiger landscapes in India, the Western Ghats is an important landscape complex from habitat, population and management points of view," it said.