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Indian minister turns on own party over killing of man-eating tiger
 [DAWN] An Indian cabinet minister accused a party colleague on Sunday of ordering the "ghastly murder" of a tiger and vowed legal action after the man-eating animal was shot in the country's west.The big cat blamed for killing more than a dozen people was rubbed out on Friday night after a months-long search, capping one of India's most high-profile tiger hunts in decades. But the shooting in the forests of Maharashtra state sparked immediate controversy and allegations the kill was unethical and illegal. Maneka Gandhi, a staunch animal activist and part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, accused the state forest minister of hiring a "trigger-happy shooter" to slay the tiger. "It is nothing but a straight case of crime", said Gandhi, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), describing the shooting as a "ghastly murder". "I am definitely going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically," she posted on Twitter. She accused the state's forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar ‐ also from the BJP ‐ of ignoring appeals to call off the hunt for the tiger known officially as T1 and popularly as Avni. The Supreme Court had issued a hunting order for T1 in September, ruling that she could be killed if tranquilisers failed. Several appeals were made against the death sentence. Forestry officials acknowledged to Indian media that no vet was present during the hunt, as required by the Supreme Court order. The Indian branch of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the tiger slaughter was about "satisfying a hunter's lust for blood". The big cat was blamed for 13 deaths since June 2016 but animal activists said she was trying to protect her young. Man-eating tiger blamed for the deaths of 13 people is shot and killed in India after being lured into the open with Calvin Klein's Obsession For Men Posted by: Fred 2018-11-05 |
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