Mysuru: A tigress and her three cubs have settled in estates on the edge of Nagarahole National Park in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru and have outsmarted forest officials’ efforts to drive them back into the forest with the tigress preying on livestock to feed her cubs, adding to the woes of farmers in the vicinity.
To track down this elusive tigress, forest officials have pressed into service six tamed elephants for combing operations in the estates which are spread across 1,500 acres in the periphery of the park. In addition, 25-personnel attached to the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) and specialists in tiger rescue operations, have also conducted combing operations without any success. The use of drones to get aerial shots of the tigress’ movements hasn't been of much help either not has a cage to trap the tigress, helped in capturing the elusive animal.
The tigress is around 8 years, and her cubs, about nine-months old.
The thick vegetation and tall grass in the estates offers enough protection to them to hide and is a perfect camouflage, says Assistant Conservator of Forests Prasanna Kumar, who is engaged in the rescue operation.
Normally, when a tiger strays out of the park, rescue efforts or attempts to drive the animal back into the forests takes a day or two but non-maintenance of estates around Nagarahole has made the task difficult, says a SPTF officer.
Meanwhile, Nagarahole Park officials have sought permission from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to capture the tigress and her three cubs but official sources observe that NTCA might not give permission to capture the tigress since she has three nursing cubs with her.
They fear that the cubs might get separated from the mother.
