Furious wildlife lovers take out online petition against nawab

Nawab Shafat Ali Khan

Wildlife lovers are up in arms against the state forest department's decision to rope in controversial Hyderabad-based shooter Nawab Shafat Ali Khan in the hunt for T1, the man-eating tigress of Yavatmal. It was a report in mid-day on Wednesday (Trigger-happy shooter joins hunt for rogue tigress T1) that led to a Nagpur-based group of wildlife lovers and members attached to the group Conservation, Lens and Wildlife (CLaW), to start an online petition, asking the government to not allow private individuals to shoot or tranquilise problematic animals. They also met National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officials on Wednesday evening to raise the issue of the Nawab. He has been embroiled in several controversies because of his trigger-happy ways.

Refuse private shooters
The online petition states, 'The forest department is vested with the rights to tranquilise or shoot and kill problematic animals, but the increasing dependency of state forest departments on private shooters is cause for concern. The government itself has some very experienced sharp-shooters, but the department still prefers private game and trigger-happy shooters, who have their own share of controversies. Such cases are on the rise in Maharashtra, where services of private shooters have been sought too often by the state. Earlier sharp-shooters from government departments handled such cases.' The petition also states some private shooters have cases against them, such as running illegal resorts (some were sealed after an SC order), and claims of supplying arms to Maoists.

Use staff shooters
Till 7 pm on Wednesday, around 450 people had signed the petition. Wildlife photographer and member of ClaW, Sarosh Lodhi, said, "We submitted our petition to the officials at NTCA's regional office. Our main demand is that the Forest Department not rely on private shooters to tranquilise or bring down problematic animals. There are many capable officers within the department. Instead of involving controversial and private people, the forest department should rely on their own staff."

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