Mumbai, Oct 17 (IANS): Actor Suniel Shetty has come out in support of a campaign to save man-eating tigress Avni from being killed.

The "Hera Pheri" actor on Wednesday tweeted: "Chasing and killing a mother means risking the lives of young babies, especially when she's not been getting out of the forest and has confined herself to her home, the forest."

"We must show her respect, respect the forest and let them live in peace. Let Avni live," Suniel added.

The five-year-old tigress is currently the focus of a hunt for the past two months after she allegedly killed human beings in the lush Pandharkawada forests of Yavatmal in eastern Maharashtra last year.

The Bombay High Court's Nagpur Bench on Tuesday admitted a PIL that sought a stay on plans to kill Avni and instead capture her alive.

According to the change.org petition to save Avni, her killing "would eventually result in the death of her two cubs too, as they are both too young to hunt and survive on their own".