Tigress Avni’s killing: Devendra Fadnavis says Maneka Gandhi’s tweets harsh, but ready to probe incident 

The body of tigress Avni.

The chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi used “harsh words” against the state forest minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar, in her tweets expressing her dismay over the killing of the suspected maneater female tiger, Avni. However, Fadnavis added that Gandhi’s “sentiments” should be taken care of and hence the killing of tigress will be probed.

In a series of tweets, on Sunday, Gandhi lashed out to Mungantiwar over the killing of the tigress and called it a “ghastly murder”.

Talking to reporters on Monday, Fadnavis said, “All animal lovers’ sentiments are harsh regarding this incident. It was a difficult decision. Whether the procedure was correct or not will be checked.”

Fadnavis termed the killing of the tigress as an “act of self-defence” and said the incident took place when tigress attacked the forest staff when they tried to tranquilize her.

Avni (T1) had two cubs when she was shot dead. Since her shooting, her cubs – a male and a female – have not been sighted for the last 48 hours and their fate is unknown. It is almost certain that the cubs will die if they are not rescued soon. 

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