As stated by the Ranthambore National Park,” Born in 2005 to the tiger named T20 (Jhumroo), and tigress T22 (Gayatri), T-24 (Ustad) is a mighty and attractive male tiger who ruled the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve for 9 years. He lived a happy life with his partner T-39 (Noor), and thundered about in his zone without any major competition from other male tigers, except for a few minor tiffs with his sibling T25 (Zaalim).
Once a rising star of the Ranthambore Reserve, T24 was named ‘Ustad’ by the locals owing to his free spirit. He was always a bit different from other tigers and would drag his prey to the highway to eat it in full public view.
He would also not move away from the path seeing humans approaching as other normal tigers do. Despite all his unconventional behavior, he was the major draw at Ranthambore National Park and was loved by wildlife lovers & photographers.” Ustad came into the limelight when he killed a veteran forest guard, Rampal Saini, on May 8, 2015. Rampal lived fearlessly amidst tigers, but, seeing the menacing ways and changing the behavior of T24 over the past few years, even he felt nervous and scared sometimes, claimed his family.
On May 8, sighting Ustad at a waterbody near the 4 km Ranthambore Fort road that is frequented by many devotees visiting the Ganesha Temple inside the reserve premises, when Rampal went to look for him, he was mauled to death by the ferocious tiger.
This was not the first reported attack on Ustad; he had earlier also been charged with killing two villagers in July 2010 and March 2012 respectively, and another forest guard in October 2012. According to conservationists, Dharmendra Khandal and Raza Tehsin, the ever-changing behavior of Ustad have a lot to do with him being tranquilized and confined to a cage for many continuous days, quite frequently all these years.
Be it for his treatment of his injured paw, curing constipation, or placing a radio collar on him, frequent episodes of tranquilizations and injections took a toll on his natural behavior. The transfer of eight tigers from his clan to other wildlife reserves, disturbing his family structure in the early years of his life, also contributed to his wild behavior towards humans. May 2015 was the high point for villagers suffering from the rising terror of Ustad; witnessing another loss of human life by this aggressive beast, an outrage amongst villagers and forest guards was quite obvious this time.
Facing the protests from villagers and other forest guards patrolling the territory of T24, Ustad was moved to Sajjangarh Biological Park in Udaipur on May 16, 2015. Located at a distance of 400 km from the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and away from human settlements, at the biological park, Ustad was confined to a natural enclosure spread over an area of less than a hectare in contrast to the 5000 hectares of Ranthambore where he spent his life. As rightfully stated by the Ranthambore National Park, “Was the state government right on its part in taking the decision to relocate a tiger that had become a threat to human life? Was the decision of the forest department influenced by the pressure of hoteliers for whom Ustad posed to be a threat to their business? Had Ustad really turned into a man-eater? There are many more questions that remain unanswered. But, for us as humans, it’s high time now to realize the importance of maintaining a perfect balance in the ecosystem. Whether Ustad was a man-eater or not, if we do not mend our ways of poaching and interrupting the territories of these wild creatures, it may not be long before news of one more tiger killing a man hits the headlines.” To date, tigers have lost over 93% of their territory to human development and concrete jungles. In June 2022 T-24 was diagnosed with a bone tumor after being seen limping around the enclosure. In spite of efforts by the government, cancer took over him and he died on December 28, 2022. As humans it is imperative and our rightful duty to bring ecological balance rather than promote cruel acts such as hunting, poaching, wildlife tourism, etc. So, what do you think about T-24 (Ustad), Was he a man-eater? or a victim of the human-animal conflict?
