Kurnool: There is some good news and bad news with regard to proliferation of tigers in Nallamala forest.
First, the good news… Camera traps captured images of five tiger cubs while moving in Atmakur range in Kurnool district. The season for mating was congenial as tigers found it relaxing with sufficient good tidings to make families, said Atmakur DFO Sambangi Venkatesh. He said that we would only be knowing the exact number of tigers when the final census is taken in the month of January.
And the bad news… On Friday, a one-year-old leopard was found with a mauled head and scraped legs on the railway tracks near Chelima village in Nandyal range. In 2014, a tiger was found dead on the railway track near Gajulapalli village.
Friday’s mishap of leopard’s death in rail accident at Chelima village was also found as a similar incident by the villagers.
The frequent deaths of tigers and leopards, under mysterious circumstances, in Nallamala range, spreading in Kurnool district, gives rise to apprehensions as to what is the real reason behind the spike while Forest officials maintain that reported deaths were investigated forensically.
Poaching has been progressing unabated despite claims by the Forest officials to the contrary, not conforming to the reality on the ground. In March, a leopard was found floating in a tank near Telugu Ganga canal.
Leopards are adept at swimming and have been attributing deaths due to drowning are far fetched, says villagers in Rudravaram Range, under Nandyal Forest limits. In another incident , in the month of September, a mother with two cubs was spotted at Kotha Mittapalli. One cub was dead and another one was shifted to Tirupati Zoo.
