VISAKHAPATNAM: The four-year-old- male tiger, which has been triggering panic by killing cattle in Anakapalle and Vizianagaram districts of north Andhra Pradesh for past weeks, continued to remain elusive despite huge mobilization of personnel by the forest department and set up a special cage to capture it.
The elusive tiger that had entered Vizianagaram district a few weeks ago, returned to Anakapalle district again. The Bengal tiger, which has been moving in Nallagonda forest areas in Anakapalle district, struck at Chandrayyapeta under K Kotapadu Mandal in Anakapalle district and killed a buffalo on Friday morning.
With the series of cattle killing incidents and panic among the people, the forest officials have procured a special cage meant exclusively for Tigers, from Uttar Pradesh to capture the big cat.
Speaking to TOI, Sub-DFO, Visakhapatnam, Ch Dharma Rakshit said that they have been spending sleepless nights. We set up a special cage near Chandrayyapeta, where the tiger killed the buffalo to trap the big cat. Though we expected that the tiger would return to Chandrayyapeta on Friday night, it didn’t visit the spot. We are very hopeful of catching the big cat very soon. We have noticed the tiger movement in trap cameras a few days ago, he added
We suspect that the animal might have entered Chipiripalle forest of Kothavalasa Mandal and it may return to Chandrayyapeta on Saturday night. A tiger traverses over 50 hectares and the animal could be spotted more than once at a particular place between one or two days. If it does not come again, it means that the animal has left the place, Dharma Rakshit added.
The forest department has deployed special teams in Anakapalel district and are making restless efforts either to capture the tiger or see that it goes into the deep forest. The tiger has killed over 15 cattle at various places in Anakapalle district. Though the forest officials set up a cage at the outskirts of the Baulawada in Anakapalle district to trap the tiger on July 10, but it was avoided.
We brought a specially- designed cage from Uttar Pradesh a few days ago to trap the tiger. The Possibilities of catching the tiger have increased now, the forest department personnel added. The cage is spacious, and it wouldn’t cause any injuries to the big cat, they added.
People in Chandrayyapeta and other villages have been advised to stay indoors at night and keep their cattle near their homes. There is no need for panic, but the villagers should be alert. It is our responsibility to protect the big cat and also to prevent possible man-animal conflict, the forest officials added.
