Hyderabadis join hands with animal lovers across the world to demand #JusticeForAvni

The cold-blooded killing of Tigress Avni in the Pandharkawada Forest Range earlier this month, has not just sparked nationwide outrage; it has united animal lovers across the globe. On Sunday, slogans like ‘Justice for Avni’ and ‘There is no planet B’ resonated across 19 Indian cities and 11 metropolises abroad as protestors took part in the ‘Global March’, demanding justice for Avni.Animal lovers, activists and students gathered at parks, squares and junctions in Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Trivandrum, Surat, Hyderabad and Vizag, among others, demanding action to be taken against Hyderabad-based hunter Shafath Ali Khan and his son Asghar Ali Khan. Even as all of India riled up to protest against the alleged man-eater’s killing, hundreds of Hyderabadis gathered at Dogs Park in Necklace Road, demanding action against the perpetrators, and called for the rescue of the Tigress’ 10-month-old cubs.
Calls for action against Shafath Ali Khan have been growing, ever since Avni’s killing, with Union Minister Maneka Gandhi slamming the hunter for “illegally killing the tigress.”“Shafath Ali Khan has killed 3 tigers, at least 10 leopards, a few elephants and 300 wild boar in Chandrapur, #Maharashtra. He is a criminal known for supplying guns to anti- nationals and for a suspected case of murder in #Hyderabad. I fail to understand why a state government should even bother about such a man let alone hire his services for illegal and inhuman acts. (sic),” Maneka Gandhi said in a series of tweets.
Activists demand that stringent action must be taken against Shafath Ali Khan for killing Avni and say that the Maharashtra government should also be held responsible as it is they who have hired the hunter. “We are doing this rally to extend our support to the core team in Mumbai who are fighting on the ground and in the court, with the authorities. We want to show the government and people with vested interests, that we the people of India are not going to keep quiet and allow them to exploit our natural resources and wildlife. The Maharastra forest minister Mungantiwar is an absolute disaster and a total misfit for that position. A person who was supposed to protect the forests is doing exactly the opposite and needs to be sacked immediately. An FIR needs to be launched on Shafat Ali Khan and his son Asghar who flouted all the rules and regulations, in their eagerness to kill the tigress, our national animal,” fumes Satish Reddy, an animal rights activist.
Securing lives of the two cubs is the need of the hour urge activists. “We demand that the cubs be saved and be taken care of properly. Also, proper awareness regarding wildlife and biodiversity must be spread so that these kind of incidents do not happen in the future. We need strict forest policies that must be implemented. Environment and development should co-exist, you cannot destroy the environment in the name of development,” says Kota Priyanka, city-based animal rights activist.
Sanjeeva Siva, a wild life activist and photographer, who took part in the protest in Hyderabad, says, “An adult cub with a good access to water can survive for around 14 days, without having a meal. These cubs, which are around 11 months old, were probably not so well trained by their mother owing to the human dominated landscape. Also, several parties have been rummaging the forest for the tigress over the last two months would have caused excessive stress. All this would mean that odds of survival for the cubs are 2 out of 10.”
People of Vizag too joined the global march, with hundreds thronging to the VUDA Central Park on Sunday evening. Protesters gathered in numbers to demand legal action against the hunter, as well as the politicos involved in the decision to hunt down the tigress. “This is a clear violation of the law and I believe there was a plan to murder Avni from the get-go. Especially so, because they never had conclusive evidence to prove that she had killed any humans in the first place,” says Gunmanth Theegala, an animal rights activist, adding, “Avni’s postmortem report shows that she has been starving for days. If she were a man-eater, wouldn’t she have found a settlement to hunt down a human easily? Her cubs are only ten months old and they need their mother till they’re at least two years old and learn how to hunt. Minister Sudhir Mugantivar and the shooter Asghar Ali Khan should be convicted for completely neglecting the wildlife rules and acts.”
Abhilasha, a class 12 student, reiterates that action must be taken against the perpetrators. “What makes it worse is that the entire illegal act was approved by the negligent central government. The hunter Asghar Ali Khan needs to be arrested for not following SC directions, so should all the political leaders involved in killing Avni. They should withdraw from their seats immediately and that’s the least we could do for Avni. It’s our turn to be the voice for the voiceless,” she adds.
— Inputs by Paturi.Rajasekhar@timesgroup.com, Debalina.Talukdar@timesgroup.com and Avinash Kashyap