Maharashtra: Two persons held with tiger skin in Gadchiroli

Two persons were held after tiger skin was seized from them in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district forest officials said on Thursday the PTI reportedBased on a tipoff about the possibility of tiger skin smuggling teams of Gadchiroli and neighbouring Chhattisgarh forest divisions conducted a joint operation on Wednesday morningThey seized the tiger skin from the two persons on EttapalliJivangatta road here said a release issued by Bhamragarh assistant conservator of forests Ashok PawarThe two accused aged 30 and 37 and both residents of Gadchiroli were taken into custody and booked under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act the release said as per the PTIMeanwhile in an another incident a tiger cub was crushed to death by a train on the ChandafortGondia rail route in Maharashtras Chandrapur district on Monday morning an official said reported the PTIThe incident took place near KitadiMindala village in Nagbhid tehsil the forest department official addedThe female cub was 34 months old After necessary formalities it was cremated said Chief Conservator of Forests Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar who along with other officials visited the spot following the incident as per the PTIBandu Dhotre head of EcoPro an organisation working for the environment and animal welfare said a survey following the death of three tiger cubs on the rail route at Junona on November 15 2018 had zeroed in on 19 points where reduction of train speed would be ideal to curb such incidentsThe survey report also suggested underpasses in Mamla Junona Sindewahi Chichapalli Talodhi Balapur and Nagbhid in Bramhapuri and Chandrapur forest divisions he saidHowever no measures mentioned in the survey report have been implemented Dhotre allegedMeanwhile last week the forest officials in Maharashtras Chandrapur have found the body parts of a tiger in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve TATR during a search operation but said that whether they belong to the missing tigress Maya a popular tigress in the area who went missing in August this year will be known only after analysis the PTI had earlier reported on TuesdayAccording to the news agency the forest officials made it clear that the gender of the striped feline whose body parts were recovered is yet to be established and a sample of bones collected during the operation has been sent for an analysis to the National Centre for Biological Sciences in BengaluruTheir clarification comes in the wake of reports in a section of media as well as social media that the deceased animal was T12 popularly known as Maya a dominant tigress in the areaMaya went missing in August this year