The newly constituted 80 member special team intensified combing operations on Thursday to capture elusive tiger in Wayanad that is suspected to have killed a farmer at Koodallur in the district a few days ago.
The big cat, nearly 13 year old, was identified as WWL-45, a resident of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary as per the data base of the Forest Department.
The team consisted of trackers, shooters, veterinarians and members of the Rapid Response team mobilised from the three forest divisions in the district, searched the human habitats of the Kodallur and Moodakkolly areas bordering the Irulam forest of the South Wayanad forest division and Wayanad wildlife sanctuary, yielded no results so far .
Apart from the special team, two Kumkis (trained elephants), Vikram and Bharat, were pressed into service to locate the tiger.
Sub Collector Vishal Sagar Bharath on Thursday issued an order to extend the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Cr.PC in the 11th ward of the Poothadi grama panchayat till December 19 as part of the smooth functioning of the operation. The order issued by Mr. Bharath, who is also the sub-divisional Magistrate, came shortly before the previous order that had come into effect on December 11 was set to expire on Thursday midnight.
The Big cat reached one of the cages set up near a poultry farm at Koodallur on Wednesday night but, the animal did not enter the cage and instead roamed near these, Forest Department sources said. However, the pug marks of the tiger was identified from the site, the sources said.
Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran on Thursday said the Chief Wildlife Warden had issued an order to shoot dead the tiger after it was identified as a man-eater. As many as five patrolling teams were also constituted to watch the movements of the tiger apart from 25 surveillance cameras installed in the area for the purpose, the Minister added. He also requested cooperation of the public for smooth functioning of the operation.
