A forest department tracker in Gujarat was killed after a tranquilizer dart fired during a rescue operation accidentally struck him, officials said on Monday.
The incident occurred in Amreli district while a rescue team was attempting to sedate and cage a lioness that had killed a four-year-old boy a day earlier. The deceased was identified as Ashraf Chauhan, a tracker with the Gujarat forest department, according to Chief Conservator of Forest (Junagadh Wildlife Division) Ram Ratan Nala.
“During an operation to sedate and cage a lioness that had killed a 4-year-old boy on Sunday, a tranquilizer dart fired by the rescue team accidentally struck ‘tracker’ Chauhan, who was standing at some distance. He was rushed to a hospital in Visavadar and then to Junagadh civil hospital where he died at 7am today,” Nala told reporters.
The lioness had killed the child, who belonged to a farm labourer’s family, near Nani Monpari village in Amreli’s Visavadar taluka, an area close to the Gir forest.
Forest officials said the incident occurred amid heightened pressure to control human-wildlife conflict in the region.
Chauhan was working as a 'tracker' and was hired by the department on contractual basis, the CCF informed.
