Man-eater tiger shot dead in Ooty village

Ooty: Ending a fo­rtnight of terror, the man-ea­ter tigress which had ki­lled three persons, was on Wednesday shot dead in a local village.  As the news sp­read that a pig was dr­agged out by the tigress Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 villagers joined the combing operations along with sickles and wooden logs.

When the tigress took away a cow, it was decided to eliminate the an­imal and the force surro­unded the hideout in Ka­ppa­chi village, district forest officer Bhadrasamy said.

“Target clear” was his first re­action as three of the sh­ots fi­red by officials were bang on target and some more shots were fired to ensure that the tigress did not escape. 

Next: Joy over death of man-eater

Joy over death of man-eater

Oaty: Around 6.15 pm on Wednesday, the mood at Kap­pachi village, a Bad­a­ga hamlet, was tense and the villagers began to scold and shout at the forest and police teams wh­en the man-eater killed a cow around a farm land there.

But, the tragedy turned to joy when the villagers heard the news that the man-eater was shot dead around 8.30 pm.

The joyous Kappachi villagers, joined by residents of nearby Thummanatti and Kundhachappai villages, ran down the slopes near the jungle cover where the man-eater was shot dead and moved up the slopes, dancing and sin­ging, while the fore­sters and STF men carried the dead man-eater to the villager.

They went around the village, showing the dead man-eater to the huge turn-out of people who gathered on the village streets and the roads in the dark hours in the cold weather.

K.M. Chandran, a resident of Kappachi village said they were really angry at the forest and district administration for their failure in their strategies to trap the big cat.

But, the news about the killing of the man-eater, which unleashed terror in around 50 hamlets around the Doddabetta jun­gles, erased all the an­ger and by Wednesday evening, it brought a festive mood to the hamlets there. “It is a great day to rem­ember as it has bro­ught life and peace back to us,” he added.

Though the forest teams were engaged in the sea­rch operation, in the final hours it was the daring act of the STF which did the trick. The dozen STF men who were seen moving inside the jungles aro­und Kappachi, fired shots at the man-eater when it began to counter them as forest teams blatantly failed in their attempt to fire the darts.

The man-eater, which was said to be injured during the first round of firing, made the STF men sweat it out for nearly two hours. It died after the round of firing around 8.30 pm. When DC contacted the STF personnel, they said it was team eff­ort and they did not want to take personal credit.