Madikeri: Forest officials are having a hard time capturing a tiger, which strays out of the Nagarhole National Park at regular intervals and attacks cattle in surrounding villages.
The tiger is said to have killed over a dozen cattle so far in the Ponnampet range, but although several efforts have been made to catch it, it has proved elusive every time.
Range Forest Officer of Ponnampet Gangadhar says the tiger, believed to be around four years old, has been on the prowl in the villages of Bilooru, Nelluru, Bkkesandluru and Kottageri for about a year. When a strategically placed cage failed to catch it, forest officials obtained permission to tranquilise it, but have not met with success in this too.
“We used our captive elephants to locate and tranquilise the tiger , but could not succeed although the operation lasted for about nine days in April/ May,” he said, adding that the operation would resume after the rainy season.
“It is usually the old and weak tigers, who come to the periphery of forests to prey on domestic animals, but this tiger is young,” he noted.
Meanwhile, another tiger killed cattle Thursday night 50 kms away in Kurchi village , Srimangala range, also on the periphery of theNagarahole National Park. Its RFO, Veerendra says the same tiger had killed cattle about two months ago as well near Irppu village.
