Dead tiger surfaces' in Ranthambore

JAIPUR: Nearly four years after a tiger named Yuvraj' reportedly fell prey to the poachers at Ranthambore National Park, a controversy has surfaced with a few wildlife activists claiming that a tiger, T-21, is none other than Yuvraj itself. Now it has become a case of dead tiger walking, with forest officials refuting the theory and wildlife activists sticking to it.

The tiger in the middle of the controversy is the first male litter of

T-15, the Guda tigress. Yuvraj met an untimely end when it was allegedly poached in November 2007. Though the body of the tiger was never found, the forest department had initiated action against a few Mongiya tribals accusing them of poaching.

Now, three years after the alleged death of the Yuvraj, some wildlife activists have come up with the theory that a male tiger, T-21 in the park, is none other than Yuvraj itself. The theory is arrived at after activists compared the stripes on T-21 and tallied it with of Yuvraj, got from pictures taken in the past.

"The stripes on the bodies of a tiger are unique to it. No two tigers can have the same pattern of stripes on their body. I have been under this hunch that Yuvraj and T-21 could be the same tiger. Recently, some of my friends and I compared the stripes that were on Yuvraj and those on T-21 and found them to be the same," says conservation biologist Dharmendra Khandal of Tiger Watch.

"Actually Yuvraj was there in the past three years in Ranthambore and was never poached. Even the body of the tiger was never recovered despite the fact that a whole lot of people were trying to trace it," he added.

The revelation has also put a question mark on effective tracking of tigers at the park.

According to sources, Yuvraj and its sibling got separated from their mother, the Guda tigress, at the end of 2006. After staying together with its sibling for sometime, Yuvraj drifted out of the forests to Man Singh Sanctuary in 2007 mainly due to the presence of other dominant males in the park.

But, according to officials of the state forest department, Yuvraj was killed near a place called Lakheri, about 30 kms from the periphery of the park. At that time, nearly seven Mongiya poachers, including one called Bachu Mongya, were listed as accused. Eventually Bacchu died while his brothers Moolya Mogya and Sakrama Mogya still remain accused and are absconding. Yuvraj's sibling T-12 was recently shifted to the Sariska reserve.

"Ranthambore is an open park and unlike many other tiger reserves it gives scope for effective monitoring of tigers. What needs to be done is that each tiger here should be properly tracked and a record maintained," added Khandal.

When contacted, HM Bhatia, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan, assured to get the fact investigated. "I have no idea of it now but I will get it checked," he said.