Approached through lush green rubber plantations dotted with farm yards, Bathanimala in Perunad grama panchayat in Ranni is an outpost that borders the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR). Barring a few stray incidents, humans and wild animals coexisted peacefully in this village until now. But the past couple of months have been different.
According to villagers, an aged tiger has developed a habit of lifting cattle from the cattle sheds here in the cover of the night. In a span of just 40 days, the animal has feasted on three cows and a goat. With the animal appears to be making a fighting stand, the villages have been under constant fear that it may eventually attack humans.
