Ranthambore Tiger Reserve has been gripped by a controversy over the shifting of a tiger, T24, popularly called Ustad. On May 8, the 9-year-old tiger killed a forest guard near the entrance of the park, which led to the forest department shifting him out to an enclosed area near Udaipur. The forest department said that the decision was taken as this was Ustad's fourth human kill. But this has created uproar among tiger lovers who frequent the park, with allegations that the action was illegal and that it was unfair to brand Ustad as a man eater. Tiger expert Valmik Thapar, who has been associated with the park for 40 years, has hit out at this emotional outpouring, saying the forest department had no choice but to shift the animal as it had become unpredictable.
