Intruders skin zoo tigress alive

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, OCT. 7. In a meticulously planned attack that stunned animal lovers and exposed the hollowness of safety norms at the Nehru Zoological Park, poachers strangled a zoo-bred tigress `Sakhi' and skinned it in the Tiger Safari on Wednesday night. The carcass of the one-year-old big cat, without its hide, was dumped in a water sump near its cage.

The brutal attack, said to be first of its kind in the country, has not only dazed the officialdom, which spurred into action and suspended four zoo employees, but also the other big cats. Karuna, the mother of the slain tigress, and four other tigers caged next to `Sakhi', have been reported to be restless and have been refusing food ever since.

The poachers, at least two to three in number, were suspected to have scaled over the wired fencing and broke open the locks of the shed housing the cages.

The CID, which has been entrusted with the investigation, could not collect any fingerprints from the enclosure. However, the focus of the probe was apparently on the ``insider collusion'' angle. No arrests have been made so far, though the zoo authorities suspended four employees holding them responsible for laxity. But the zoo staff have launched a work-to-rule agitation terming the suspensions unjust and highhanded. On Saturday, the staff only fed the animals and refused to attend to other work. The ghastly incident, which was initially kept under wraps till Thursday evening, has taken everyone by surprise. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, rushed to the zoo on Saturday morning to take stock of the situation.

Brutal: Naidu

``It's brutal,'' mumbled a visibly distressed Mr. Naidu while admitting the need for a total review of the security system at the 400-acre zoo. ``There is a clear connivance of the insiders who are in the know of things,'' he said. Each one of the zoo employees would be investigated.

Mr. Naidu also expressed apprehensions over the delay in the zoo authorities informing their higher-ups and also lodging a complaint with the police. ``I was told about the incident only on Friday. These lapses also need to be investigated,'' he said. He also expressed doubts over the poachers scaling the high fence with the tiger hide, hinting at the possibility of the killers having escaped from the main entrance.

When told about the zoo employee's threat to launch an agitation if the suspension of their colleagues was not revoked, he shot back, ``They should be ashamed to even say that. They are paid to protect the animals and had clearly failed in their duty.''

Accompanied by the Roads and Buildings Minister, Mr. K. Vijayarama Rao, the City Police Commissioner, Mr. S.R. Sukumara, and senior officials of the Forest Department, Mr. Naidu also enquired about the killing of the tigress with the senior police officials and the CID personnel.

The operation

The ``intrusion'' by poachers must have happened on Wednesday night. Going by the circumstantial evidence, the poachers could have scaled over the 15-feet-high fencing abutting the Miralam Tank and jumped into the Safari. The enclosure having the tiger cages was locked from outside and the lock was broken. Later, they must have hurled a noose around the neck of `Sakhi' and strangled her. Once the feline went limp, they must have slit the throat of the 100-kg tiger open and dragged it out to be skinned, zoo officials surmise. The carcass which was dumped in the sump was noticed by an animal-keeper on Thursday morning.

Curiously, ignorant of the killing of Sakhi, the zoo officials claimed to have thwarted the attempts of a gang of sandalwood thieves on Thursday morning. The staff claimed to have spotted three persons trying to chop sandal trees in the zoo - about a kilometre from the spot where the tiger was killed and skinned - and caught one of them and handed him over to the Bahadurpura police.

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