Tiger shot dead by villagers in Nagaland

A tiger was shot dead by villagers at Medziphema, 30 kms away from here, a district administration official said.
The official said the villagers killed the tiger in self defense yesterday after it attacked one person inflicting serious wounds.
The tiger had killed two pigs and a cow after entering the village last Friday, the official said.
Between the decades of 50s and 70s, the white tigers
even became an instrument of India's cultural relations with foreign nations, said Jairam.
"We can say that white tigers in a manner played the role of India's cultural ambassadors," he said.

He said that in 1960, the US expressed its interest in the white tiger following which a delegation visited Rewa and took one to their country.

"How intense was the fascination for this amazing creature can be gauged by the fact that when white tigress Mohini reached Washington from Govindgarh the then US President W D Eisenhower received her," he said.
Jairam also informed that another white tiger couple from Govindgarh was sent to Bristol Zoo in England in 1963.
Minister Rajendra Shukla recalled that when Mohan died on December 18, 1969, a holiday was declared in local schools and markets were closed as a mark of respect for the departed white tiger.
Later, Virat and Chameli was the last couple of white tigers that lived in Govindgarh till July 8, 1976.

But after Mohan's progeny Virat died, his companion Chameli was shifted to Delhi Zoo and that is how the Vindhya region, which is credited with introducing white tigers to the world, got deprived of the felines since then.
Later, relocating them back in the Vindhya region became a major political issue in many elections and when Shukla was the forest minister, he initiated the issue again which resulted in the creation of Mukundpur White Tiger Safari Zoo and Rescue Centre, he added.