Combing operation involving over 100 Forest Department personnel has commenced at Balluruhundi in the Hediyala range of Bandipur National Park on Saturday a day after a woman was killed in a tiger attack.
The victim, Rathnamma, 49, was in the field tending to cattle when the tiger pounced on her and dragged her into the forest which abuts the village.
Senior Forest Department officials, including Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Kumar Pushkar, visited the spot on Saturday and offered condolences to members of the bereaved family.
Nanjangud MLA Darshan Dhruvanarayan also visited the spot and discussed the conflict issue with the Forest personnel. Compensation of ₹15 lakh has been sanctioned to the next of kin of the victim.
In a bid to capture the tiger, the authorities have set up 55 camera traps in and around Balluruhundi while a thermal drone is also being used to provide an aerial view of the terrain.
Camera traps and cages in place
Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, said that in addition to establishing camera traps, four cages have also been placed at strategic places in a bid to capture the tiger without the need to dart and tranquillise it. Three elephants — Rohit, Parthasarathy and Hiranya — have been deployed for combing operations while personnel from the leopard task force, special tiger force and elephant task force are in position. By evening, pug marks were detected and the team was concentrating in that area.
The first task is to establish the identity of the tiger and Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that as per their data, there was only one tiger in the vicinity and hence identification and capture may not be difficult.
He said the village was at an aerial distance of 10 km from where a farmer also died in a tiger attack under similar circumstances in the Moliyur range on November 6. The terrestrial distance is about 19 km and hence it was unlikely that the same tiger was involved as the one at Moliyuru has been identified through camera trap images and the stripe pattern and its sex was different from the available data pertaining to the Hediyala tiger, said Mr. Ramesh Kumar. Besides, there are four tigers near the place where the farmer died in Moliyur range while there was only one tiger at this place.
While the operation at Moliyuru has not yielded any results the authorities have not given up but the combing team has been shifted to Hediyala. “The camera traps continue to be at the site in Moliyuru and there are staff monitoring them regularly and keeping a watch on the forest periphery,” said Mr. Ramesh Kumar
Incidentally, a farmer was attacked by a tiger at Balluruhundi more than three weeks ago but he escaped without major injuries. The authorities suspect the involvement of the same tiger in the killing of Ratnamma.
