Monday, June 15, 2009

Bandhavgarh

On 8th May morning a guide informed me that forest department have taken some guides and other people to Banbehi probably to show them a dead Tiger. It looks like as Banbehi female is gone, he said.
Later on I got the news from different sources that a Tiger is found dead near Banbehi. First news was that it is Banbehi female. Later on news came that it is a male probably the other sibling of B2.
Next day on 9th the Post Mortem was done. Guides and Drivers told me that it was clearly stated in presss conference that it was a male Tiger.
Later on one day a labour, in presence of a Mahavat and a guide, who saw all this told me that "
On 5th May they saw a tiger lying next to a rock and three cubs sitting around her. They knew that this is Banbehi female with her cubs as this is her teritory.
Next day again they were on the same route and they saw the same situation but this time a cub saw them and charged on them. They ran back to camp.
Third day on 7th they decided to go on same route thinking she must have gone by now but no she was lying there alone in same position.
He said "To check her we stonned her. She did not move. We climb on a close by rock to see her. Her mouth was wide open, teeths were showing. We could smell her dead.
We ran back to the camp. Now 5-6 people came inclusive of forest guard. We checked her she was dead. Forest guard send the information to Tala Range Head Quarter.
Park Supdtt and others came to check her late in the evening, just before dark"
First two days account shows that it was indeed the Banbehi female. Rajvardhan Sharma, Nature Heritage Tala told me on phone that it was a male, some genitals were clearly showing, This can be verified through my and his mobile phone recordings.
Now the question is, if that was a male then where is the Banbehi female??
And if that was a male then why her cubs were sitting with him for two days??
If that was not a female then why she is not being seen with her cubs since then??

1 comment:

Avinash Upadhyay said...

Satyendra: Quite a few questions there. If banbehi female is seen in near future, it will become established that it was indeed a male. If this happens, it will be a peculiar extension of what Valmik Thapar had observed in Ranthambhore about the male tiger also nursing the cubs by playing and cuddling with them. Will this then be a testimony that the cubs were mourning their father's death? That is, if this male was the father.

But if it was the female, then why is the forest department trying to pass it up as a male?

Pithy questions and probably the answer can come only if the banbehi female gives darshan.
Avinash