Bengaluru: Foresters at the Wayanad Tiger Reserve in Kerala have trapped a tiger, which had recently turned into a man eater. The Kerala government had issued tranquilising orders after the tiger killed and devoured a tribesman in Kurchiyat Wildlife Range of the Reserve a week ago. The animal walked into the cage set up by the foresters on Monday night.
After killing the tribal the tiger remained untraced for more than five days. On Sunday it was found at Naikatti village outside the Sultan Bathery Wildlife Range. A woman sighted the tiger, after it had killed two lambs. Hearing her cries the tiger moved away, but came back after two hours to hunt down a cow right in the village.
“After the tiger appeared on Sunday, the Chief Wildlife Warden had issued to capture the tiger. A cage was set up at Naikatti village and tiger fell on late Monday night. On Tuesday morning it was found locked by the foresters and villagers. It’s a male tiger and had sustained some injuries. Currently the tiger has been sent for rehabilitation to Thrissur zoo, after which the extent of injuries will be ascertained,” said a forest officer from the Wayanad Reserve.
This is the second such incident around Bandipur in the last one week. A week ago a tiger was tranquilised at Sarguru, the outer most area of the Reserve. The tiger was badly injured in its limbs and abdomen has now been rehabilitated in Mysore zoo. The Nayeekatti where the tiger was caged on Tuesday is located about 15 km from the boundaries of Bandipur Reserve.
“The tiger seems to be old, aged about 15 years. Its canine is weak and it has forced it to look for easy prey like cattle and human. When it had attacked the tribesman on Sunday it had eaten most part of the body. This has created lot of fear among the people living around the Wayanad Reserve,” the officer added.
Complaint against Snake Shyam
Noted snake conservationist from Mysuru, M.S. Balasubramaniam, who is better known as Snake Shyam, has landed in trouble after a complaint was lodged against him. In a complaint to the CCF of Mysore Circle, a volunteer from the BBMP’s Forest Cell, noted that Snake Shyam showed a live snake to a group of schoolchildren in Mandya which that is against wildlife laws.
The complaint states that illegal storing, transportation and display of wildlife attracts laws under Wildlife Protection Act. Snake Shyam said that he had not done anything illegal and that he was only trying to educate the children during one of his rescue missions.
Six deer poachers held
Crime branch police on Tuesday arrested six people, who poached deer in Shivamogga forests and sold their antlers. The police recovered 21 horns of deer. The arrested have been identified as Srikanth, Nithin, Umesh, Shashikanth, Abhishek and Rajath, residents of different villages in Shivamogga district. Acting on a tipoff, a team of crime branch police tailed a car and tried to catch hold of its occupants. Though the accused tried to escape, the police managed to arrest them. The police are interrogating the arrested.
