Wandering Tiger Makes Its Way Into Siddipet District
The first report of the tiger moving in the Siddipet area came from a farmer who reported seeing it very early on Friday in Thoguta: Forest department official
HYDERABAD: A tiger that was being tracked in Kamareddy district since the middle of this month, and signs of whose presence were not found over the past one week, has now surfaced in Siddipet, the first time that a tiger has entered this district.
With this, Siddipet became the 14th district in which tigers in Telangana have made their presence felt in the past five years.
The big cat, which officials earlier said was a male, began its trek from the tiger-rich forests of Maharashtra, most likely in search of an area where it could establish its territory. Along the way, it passed through KB Asifabad and Mancherial districts, and most likely crossed over into Kamareddy district passing through Jagitial and Rajanna Siricilla districts before entering Siddipet district.
The first report of the tiger moving in the Siddipet area came from a farmer who reported seeing it very early on Friday in Thoguta, a forest department official said.
Dr C. Suvarna, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (head of forest force), and the state’s chief wildlife warden, said officials and staff were monitoring the big cat’s movements.
Siddipet forest officials as soon as they received the report of the big cat, launched a search and found pugmarks. “Officials in three ranges have been alerted, teams have been formed to monitor their respective areas with night patrols, and camera traps have been placed in cattle sheds in case the big cat goes to any of them,” a forest department official said.
The unexpected sighting of a tiger in Siddipet district, and subsequent finding of pugmarks in revenue land near Thoguta village, almost next to the Mallanasagar reservoir, marks the 14th district of the state in which tigers have made themselves felt, or wandered into.
Previously, in addition to the Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda districts in which the Amrabad tiger reserve is spread, and KB Asifabad, Nirmal, Adilabad, Mancherial districts, in which the Kawal tiger reserve and tiger corridor forests connecting Maharasthra’s tiger landscape with Telangana are located, tigers were reported periodically in Mahbubabad, Mulugu, Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Peddapalli, Nizamabad, and Kamareddy districts.
Meanwhile, another tiger that travelled into Telangana from Maharashtra earlier this year and went into Peddapalli district from Mancherial earlier this month, is reported to have returned to the forests in Mancherial.
The official added that there was not much of forest area near Thoguta with the exception of a reserve forest spread over a small patch of 150 hectares.
