New Delhi:
Avni, a 'man-eater' tigress, that had killed as many as 14 people in the last two years, was shot dead in Maharashtra's Yavatmal forest region in late Friday night. The six-year-old tigress along with her two cubs have consumed 60 per cent of a human corpse, according to the forest department. Avni, officially known as T1, is survived by her two cubs who are 10 months old. Her postmortem is scheduled to be conducted at Nagpur's Gorewada Rescue Centre on Saturday.
"Maharashtra: 'Man-eater' tigress Avni (T1) killed in Yavatmal last night. She had allegedly killed 14 people so far," the news agency ANI reported.
Maharashtra: 'Man eater' tigress Avni (T1) killed in Yavatmal last night. She had allegedly killed 14 people so far. pic.twitter.com/Fosp9iXdDJ
— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018
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Soon after the report of Avni's shoot-at-sight broke on the internet, locals in Yavatmal started celebrating as they can now breathe a sigh of relief.
#Maharashtra: Locals in Yavatmal celebrate after 'man-eater' tigress Avni (T1) was killed in last night. She had allegedly killed 14 people. pic.twitter.com/wxN0yvT0Xw
— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018
The development came nearly two months after the Supreme Court had on September 12, refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s decision, which rolled out a shoot-at-sight order for the tigress, prompting a flurry of online petitions.
#FirstVisuals of 'man-eater' tigress Avni (T1) that was killed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal last night. She had allegedly killed 14 people. Her postmortem will be conducted at Nagpur's Gorewada Rescue Centre. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/eH1jDLf511
— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018
Wildlife activist Jerryl A Banait, who filed the petition before the court, contended that the Forest Department should capture the tigress alive, instead of killing, which is “illegal and arbitrary and deserves to be set aside”.
However, a Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta rejected the plea by NGO Earth Brigade Foundation challenging the September 6 order of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.
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A special team of the forest department, equipped with the latest technology, was in a hunt for the tigress since last three months. They used 150 ground personnel, elephants, so-called expert trackers, shooters, trap cameras, drones, a pack of trained sniffer dogs and a hang-glider to trap the tigress.
Avni was first spotted in the Ralegaon forest area of Yavatmal district in 2012 and further rambled in Pandharkawda forest and many other places across Maharashtra.
