Clue, the three-and-a-half-year-old sniffer dog of Pench Tiger Reserve, led forest officials to the man accused of poisoning two tigers in Paoni, but died the next night. Its handlers suspect poisoning by pesticide, probably inhaled or ingested during the investigation.
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Two tigers, a male and a female, were found dead in Pusda beat of Paoni range, 82km from Nagpur, on Friday. These deaths took the tiger toll in Maharashtra to 23, highest in the country this year. Most of the deaths are unnatural.
Clue, a Labrador, had played a key role in nabbing main accused Anandrao Madavi, but the foot soldier passed away on Sunday. Even senior territorial and wildlife wing officials had no clue about the sniffer dog passing away, and the incident was kept under wraps.
Pench field director Rishikesh Ranjan confirmed Clue was found dead on Sunday morning in its camp at Totladoh. "The cause of death is speculated to be cardiac arrest," he told TOI.
However, according to wildlife veterinarians who performed the post-mortem at Transit Treatment Centre, Seminary Hills, Clue is suspected to have died due to poisoning as some organs had turned dark. The viscera samples have been sent to the forensic lab at Nagpur.
TOI
Sources said that on Saturday afternoon Clue was taken to the crime spot, where two tigers and a cow were found dead. It is possible that the sniffer dog might have sniffed leftover carcass of the cattle on which the accused had sprinkled a poisonous pesticide.
"Thimet is in granular form and it is also possible Clue might have consumed a little during the search. It is learnt to have searched nearly 4-5 km to find whether there were any more animals that had died after scavenging on the poisoned cattle," said sources.
Clue's presence had scared the accused, who was nabbed while fleeing village Pindkepar. Another sniffer dog Soldier, a Doberman, had also consumed tiger scat at the spot the same day, and the handlers feared something untoward might happen to it. But in the morning, the dog handlers were shocked to see Clue lying dead and Soldier doing well.
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Clue deserved to get an honourable funeral but was quietly buried at the transit centre. In 2014, the dog had traced poachers who had removed sambar body parts in Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary.
Officials informed Clue had also nabbed culprits involved in removing leopard body parts at Paoni in Bhandara that same year. In 2015, Clue was taken to Melghat, where it tracked a woman poacher. It had also played a key role in nabbing culprits involved in illicit felling at Tipeshwar.
Accused Madavi gets 4-day FCR
The Ramtek JMFC on Monday granted four-day forest custody remand (FCR), till November 24, to Anandrao Madavi of Pindkepar, for poisoning the cow that was killed by tigers. Madavi took revenge as he had not been paid cattle kill compensation by foresters. The accused told forest officials that two months ago his cow was killed but the forester concerned had demanded Rs1,000 to settle the claim. After a month, another of his cows was injured, but no compensation was paid. This was the third cow killed by tigers. Finally, frustrated Madavi sprinkled thimet on the carcass, leading to the death of two tigers.
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Even though negligence of foresters as been proved, no action has been taken against them. Besides, there is variation in statements of forest guards and foresters, who claim that the tigers were found dead by them, but a shepherd told about the tiger deaths.