The roar of the man-eating tigress roaming about the jungles of Faizabad has been silenced by the bullets of an ace shooter. But the controversy surrounding the felling of the feline is likely to echo for a long time.

The two-and-a-half-year-old tigress had strayed from the Pilibhit jungles in central UP some time in November. It had travelled over 300 km, crossing half-a-dozen districts, and killed four people. The cat was shot down by Nawab Shafat Ali Khan of Hyderabad on Tuesday evening.

The killing of the man-eater has led to a lot of bad blood between the UP forest department (UPFD) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). While the UPFD says it could be possible because of its "untiring efforts over the past two months", the NTCA claims the tiger as its well-earned trophy.

The tug-of-war was out in the open soon after the cat was killed in the Bakchuna jungles of Faizabad on Tuesday.

While the UPFD officials insisted on taking its body to Lucknow for post-mortem, the NTCA officials hurriedly carried it away to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly.

"Villagers were reporting the tigress every day. Its pictures were being shown on TV channels. But ace shooters of the UPFD could not trace it. It's ridiculous," said an expert not wanting to be named.

However, a UPFD official said: "The NTCA is claiming credit, though the truth is that the entire groundwork had been done by our team. Without our logistic and information back-up this would never have been possible."

Deepak Gidwani/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication