A tiger has died after being caught in an iron jaw trap in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, India. The tiger was found by a team of foresters on Thursday night who also found many other iron jaw traps in the area which poachers must have laid down on Wednesday night. The foresters were in the area putting down camera traps to try and get images of the beautiful big cats, when they found the dead body of the tiger. Another tiger was also found alive by foresters after being trapped in a nearby snare. The foresters have not approached this tiger yet for fear of attack. Tranquilizing experts have been called to the area and TigerTime are hopeful that they will safely remove the tiger from the trap.
When approaching the tiger, forest guard MB Zade was caught in another jaw trap but luckily escaped serious injury due to wearing the correct footwear. Forest guards managed to release his leg from the trap without much harm being caused.
The traps would have been laid by professional poachers and so forest officials have now issued a look out for traditional medicine sellers in the area, as poachers usually travel under this disguise.
It is an awful moment when news of a tiger being trapped reaches TigerTime, let alone two. This death of a beautiful tiger could have been stopped.
We need to put an end to the tiger trade which is being fuelled by the ever growing use of ‘traditional medicine’. Help us stop the unnecessary slaughter of this wonderful endangered big cat. Please sign www.bantigertrade.com or help fund our on the ground projects by donating here.
Written by: Chantelle M Henderson
Source: The Times of India
