Nagaon: Villagers annoyed by the frequent cattle lifting by predators at the Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary allegedly killed a full grown tiger in retaliation on May 25 in Lathimari, north of the sanctuary. Forest officials suspected it to be a case of poisoning.

Skin, bone and vital organs of the animal were found missing from the site. A partially consumed carcass of a domestic buffalo also found nearby. Forest officials have sent the tissue samples of the carcass to the Forensic Laboratory in Guwahati to examine the exact cause of death. A departmental inquiry has been initiated.

It is being considered that the tiger might have killed one of their buffaloes during the night, which prompted the irate villagers to plot his death by putting poison on the dead cattle.

According to Shimanta Goswami of Green Guard Nature Organization, also a member of the Wildlife Rehabilitators Exchange Network Programme of WTI, “This is for the first time a tiger is being poisoned to death though a good number of domestic cattle were killed by tigers every year in the Laokhowa and the Burachapori Wildlife sanctuary.”

As per the 2005 tiger census conducted in the state, there are about 16 tigers in the Laokhowa sanctuary.

Kochmora Reserve Forest, and the Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary situated close to Laokhowa are contiguous forest habitats. Kochmora is a cluster of riverine islands in a 22 km. radius on the river Brahmaputra which leads to the Burachapori Reserve Forest and forms the northern boundary of the Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary. The area is close to the Orang National Park, well-known for its great one horned rhinos.

Goswami who has been working for habitat recovery in these areas said that tigers from the Kochmora Reserve Forest had already been wiped out due to killing in the past and the Burachapori population might receive the same fate.

In the last two decades, large encroachments in these areas have resulted in frequent man-animal conflicts. For instance, in the year 2002 a tigress and a cub were found dead under similar circumstances on a riverine island close to Burachapori.

However, in less than three years the tiger population in the Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary has doubled from eight in the year 2002 to 16 tigers recorded during the 2005 census.

According to Dr. Prajna Paramita Panda, Programme Officer of the Wildlife Trust of India, “The domestic cattle close to wildlife habitats also increases the threat of communicable diseases found in livestock which can easily pass on to the wild animals. For instance, a few decades ago in Africa rabies infected livestock have almost threatened to wipe out its lion population. For this reason, WTI has been vaccinating livestock close to wildlife sanctuaries in different parts of the country.”

Laokhowa Wildlife sanctuary was constituted in the year 1904 with a geographical area of 70 sq. kms, the same year Kaziranga National Park was formed.

At present, 22 sq. kms of the sanctuary have already been encroached. The sanctuary was once home to more than 70 rhinos, now, no longer found here. Other wild animals in the sanctuary include wild boar, wild buffalo, hog deer, wild elephants etc. The sanctuary has lost its past glory due to regular loss of habitats and wildlife.