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Established in 1976 in the Bhal region of Saurashtra, the Blackbuck National Park is spread over an area of 34.08 km. Flat land, dry grasses, and herds of antelope have always attracted visitors to this park which has a grassland ecosystem. Successful conservation programs for the blackbuck, wolf, and lesser florican (a bustard) are ongoing.  Several species of mammals have been recorded from the National Park, apart from large groups of Blackbuck such as Indian Wolf, Striped Hyena, Indian Fox, Golden Jackal, and Jungle cat.  Apart from these, several species of grassland birds such as Sandgrouse, Lark, and passerines are also abundant in the Park giving a boost to Gujarat tourism.

In 2018, an adult Tigress named Avni or T1 was shot dead in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra by a civilian hunter accompanied by a team of Forest Department officials. Indian forest officials labelled Avni as the most dangerous ‘man-eater’ in post-independent India. Even before Avni was killed, a score of campaigns by animal activists and wildlife lovers were launched to save the tigress. After Avni was shot dead, her killing was termed as a ‘cold-blooded murder’ by animal lovers. Dr. Sarita Subramaniam, Director, Earth Brigade Foundation and a Tiger activist had taken over as a petitioner for Avni in the High Court and Supreme Court. In her words, she filed several PILs and petitions to bring justice to Avni but as of July 2023, is still waiting for action. As the world observes International Tiger Day 2023 on July 29th, with an aim to conserve Tigers and India’s Project Tiger completes fifty years, Dr. Sarita Subramaniam takes us through the details of the controversial killing of ‘man-eater’ Tigress Avni or T1 and guides us on what we can do as ordinary citizens towards tiger conservation.