In an unfortunate incident, a 6-year old tigress was ruthlessly beaten to death by villagers in Uttar Pradesh. Quoting statements from an article related to the tigress’ death, an anguished Dia Mirza proceeded to disparage the forest department that they couldn’t rescue the wounded animal.
“The tigress could have been rescued and given timely medical aid as the forest officials had reached the spot. But their inability to rescue the injured big cat in a span of over nine hours undoubtedly reflects their inability in protecting wildlife in adverse situations.” https://t.co/Nmibo4vnG6
— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) July 26, 2019
However, this didn’t sit well with actor Randeep Hooda. He was quick to admonish the RHTDM actor for her sweeping accusations against the forest department. Hooda, an animal enthusiast himself, claimed to have inquired about the status of the wounded tigress with the officials. He added that the officials had informed him that she was beyond rescue at the time when she was found.
Hooda however, asserted it is the forest officials who look after the well-being of the wildlife and not just the NGOs.
With all due respect I disagree with this sweeping accusation @deespeak Forest dept is capable and doing good work. She was beyond rescue when found as I talked with experts. Even staff got injured in process. It’s the forest dept thats keeping our wildlife alive not just NGOs?? https://t.co/03roi3awf2
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) July 27, 2019
Shortly afterwards Mirza responded only to distance herself from the quoted remarks undermining the forest department. She defended herself claiming that she will always champion the cause of forest rangers and officials and that her previous tweet merely contained quotes from the attached article.
In a snarky rejoinder, Hooda shot back questioning why would one share only a particular quote from the entire article then?
Why share that particular quote only from the whole article then ??
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) July 27, 2019
This time, however former beauty queen accepted the “stark reality” that forest department is not up to the snuff and needs to be strengthened in order to make them more adept in dealing with man vs animal conflicts.
Hooda then pointed out the inconsistency in her statement stating that she indeed meant what she had quoted in her first tweet. He exhorted Mirza to stop making villains out of the forest officials based on rumours and credit other parties for the hard work done by them.
In other words you do believe what you had picked to quote dear @deespeak let’s not make villains out of the forest department on hearsay and undermine their relentless hard work while going about town praising other players for theirs..the aim is the same, let’s work together ?? https://t.co/xuKTYbBATY
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) July 27, 2019
In a Pilbhit village of Uttar Pradesh, an angry mob had mercilessly thrashed a helpless tigress with sticks and spears. The attack on the wild cat was so savage that it ended up injuring almost every part of her body.
“Sustained fractures and injuries… on almost every part of her body,” Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) field director H Rajamohan told news agency IANS.
A probe has been launched to investigate the matter and to determine why did the forest officials fail to rescue the tigress earlier. The probe will also ascertain whether the enraged mob stopped the forest officials from tending to the injured tigress.
