Avni's cubs left to die, forest dept making no efforts to trace them, alleges Maneka Gandhi

New Delhi, Nov 15: Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday shot off a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis alleging that the local forest department is making no effort to rescue the cubs, in fact, their team has been advised not to catch them till they died or to see that they were killed.

It's been almost two weeks since Tigress Avni was shot dead in the Yavatmal region in Maharashtra, but there is still no trace of her cubs.

"We had sent a team of NGOs to Yavatmal recently and found that no attempts was being made by the local forest department or the CWLW to catch the cubs," Gandhi wrote. "They were told by the villagers that the team had been advised not to catch them [the cubs] until they died or to see that they were killed," she added.

The Union minister also urged the State government to appoint a team of vets and experts from different States to assist its efforts.

"May I suggest that, in the face of national anger and the killing of the mother and concern at the plight of the cubs, you get the team of veterinarians and forest people from outside," she wrote.

The union minister had also suggested that the team of vets could be led by Sandeep Agrawal and Akhilesh Mishra, who had successfully captured and relocated over 60 tigers in MP, and named some other specialists including from Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

It may be recalled that Avni was shot dead by city based hunter Asghar Ali Khan and since then, the entire episode has been surrounded by serious controversy over the way the tigress was killed, charges of violations of government laid down protocols by the hunter and his team as well as Maharashtra Forest Department.

Incidentally, the last known meal that Avni's two cubs, aged about 11 months had was not later than October 28. The autopsy on Avni's body had shown that the tigress ate her last meal about five days before it was shot dead in Pandharkawda forest of Yavatmal district of Maharashtra.

This means the last known meal the two cubs had after their mother made her last kill, was at least 18 days ago. A section of wildlife lovers said they suspect the cubs could have died by now.