Tiger killed in accidental firing by forest guard near Kaziranga National Park

An incident of “accidental firing” has resulted in the death of a tiger on the outskirts of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

Two forest guards and a casual worker spotted the carcass of the male tiger at about 7.10 a.m. on June 18 in the Karuabari area on the fringes of the national park.

“The carcass was found near its kill. On enquiry, it was found that the tiger died due to a bullet wound,” Divisional Forest Officer Ramesh Chandra Gogoi said.

The bullet was suspected to have been fired accidentally when a team of forest guards and officials tried to scare the tiger away from a village nearby late June 17 evening, he added. The Park’s Field Director, P. Sivakumar said an enquiry has been ordered into the death of the tiger although a preliminary investigation showed a forest guard fired in self-defence.

“The tiger is about 10 years old and was probably not agile enough to hunt in the wild. It had killed a domestic buffalo the day before and returned to the village,” he said.

The tiger apparently pounced on the forest guards who tried to drive it back to the forest.

There have been instances of forest guards firing at some large animals across Assam’s wildlife preserves to save their colleagues from being attacked.

The last tiger census had estimated Kaziranga’s striped cat population at 118. The park has the highest density of tigers in the world at one per 5 sq. km.

Tigers have often strayed out of Kaziranga, more so when the park gets flooded at least once a year.

In July 2020, the Kaziranga authorities had to provide a “safe passage” to three tigers that had to escape from the flooded park to the hills of Karbi Anglong district through human habitations.

Another tiger was similarly guided to the jungles after spending 11 hours in a goat shed at Kandolimari village adjoining the park.