Shafath Ali: Handling weapons and riding horses is in my blood. We are ‘khandani’ people. My grandfather Nawab Sultan Ali Khan Bahadur was a fearless target shooter and horseman. It is in our blood to face dangers.
How many animals have you shot as a hunter before the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act and how many afterwards?
Shafath Ali: I never hunted after the Act came into force. Before that, I visited several countries to shoot animals in safari. I have participated in around 40 operations in India and shot or tranquillized at least 50 problematic animals. I have culled thousands of wild boars. I have brought down around three to four problematic tigers painlessly, including the Tigress of Faizabad in 1976.
Wildlife activists have alleged that killing Avni was cold-blooded murder and that you are ‘trigger-happy’.
Shafath Ali: My son and I did the Yavatmal operation on orders of the Maharashtra forest department upheld by the Supreme Court. My job is like that of a hangman. How can you call a hangman a nasty person?
Did you have to shoot T1?
Asghar Ali: I was disappointed I couldn’t capture the tiger alive. It was a fraction of second decision to shoot the animal when it charged at us after being hit by a tranquilizer dart.
Did you first try to tranquillize the tigress?
Asghar Ali: Yes. Expert tranquilizer Mukbhir Shaik fired a dart. T1 was just 20m away. Soon after the needle hit her, she leapt towards us. To keep forest staff safe, I shot at it from 6m distance.
There are allegations that the tranquilizer dart was squeezed by hand into T1 as an afterthought.
Asghar Ali: These are wild charges by NGOs.
Do you support hunting and culling?
Shafath Ali: Controlled hunting doesn’t reduce a species. We have to see the big picture. Jim Corbett shot dead problematic tigers. You now have national parks named after him. I am doing the same job as Corbett.
Do you consider yourself the Corbett of today’s world? Would you like a park to be named after you?
Shafath Ali: I don’t ask the government to name a park after me. But wildlife activists and politicians should stop defaming me. Culling of problematic animals takes place in countries like China, Pakistan and Russia. They don’t have half-witted NGOs sitting in AC rooms who don’t know what happens on the ground.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2SOOpEs
