A tigress which was on the prowl on the outskirts of Gopalswamy Betta range of Bandipur National Park, was tranquilised and captured by the authorities on Sunday.
The animal had struck terror among the local residents of Gopalpura village in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district as it had killed a cow besides attacking two farmers who were shifted to hospital for treatment on Saturday.
As soon as the news of tiger attack reached the Forest Department it sent a team of wildlife veterinarians; senior officials from the district administration also reached the spot to take stock of the situation.
The area was cordoned off to keep the people at bay and elephants Abhimanyu and Srikanta were deployed for combing the place. The authorities managed to take multiple images of the tigress during combing and the photos were sent to the Tiger Cell in Bengaluru which identified it as Bandipur15_420 based on the stripe pattern in its database.
The tigress is around 10 years old and used to be sighted in the Hediyala range of Bandipur Tiger Reserve regularly from 2014-15 to 2020-21.
P. Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve said the operation to tranquilise and capture the tigress commenced at 6 a.m. on Sunday with elephants Abhimanyu and Srikanta in the lead. After more than two hours of combing the tigress was cornered and the wildlife veterinarians fired the dart with tranquilizer at 8.45 a.m, said Mr.Ramesh Kumar.
The dart found its mark and the tigress was sedated. The authorities examined the sedated tigress and discovered that it had multiple injuries on its body including the fore limbs, shoulder, belly portion and near the tail. Besides, two of its teeth had eroded. Besides, the tigress was emaciated. The authorities shifted it to the Chamundi Animal Conservation, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Koorgalli on the outskirts of Mysuru.
The authorities said the standard operating procedures stipulated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) were followed during the entire operation. Meanwhile, the people of Gopalpura heaved a sigh of relief on receiving the news of the tigress capture.
