When a tiger walks over 400 kilometres, it’s bound to make news. But when the combined strength of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientists, a 10-member tiger tracking team, four elephants, a vet and a tiger tranquilising team, along with all of the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department fail to catch the tiger—that too for over a month— it’s quite a story.

The UP Forest Department is on the trail of a strayed man-killing tiger, in a chase which is unlike any India has seen before. As many as six Divisional Forest Officers from different districts—Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Lucknow and Barabanki—have failed to catch the tiger, which strayed out from Pilibhit on November 5. Now, the WII team has wrapped up and gone back, leaving the Forest Department with the responsibility of trapping the tiger.

But this is no ordinary tiger. Apart from being a lost animal, it is also now a politicised tiger. After the tiger killed a young boy in the first week of December between Barabanki and Lucknow, (it is also suspected of injuring people around Pilibhit) the Forest Department declared that it was a ‘man-eater’ and the Barabanki District magistrate KR Nayak announced a cash reward for anyone who would kill the tiger. Following this, members from the Bhartiya Kisan Union reportedly hit the streets to “kill” the tiger armed with cheap ammunition and sticks.

Forest Department officials said they were under “pressure” when they declared the tiger should be killed. But was killing the tiger the only answer? The Centre differed. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), in a strongly worded letter, asked UP to refrain from killing the tiger, saying it was not a proven ‘man-eater’ and instead directed an expert WII team to tranquilise and catch it. Wildlife conservationists shot off letters to both UP and NTCA protesting against the declaration of the cash reward.

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