Experts prepare to tranquilise tiger after second cattle kill

The expert committee, constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), have taken a decision to tranquilise the transient male tiger, following a recent incident of cattle kill in a in a palm oil field in the early hours of Thursday morning near Rajamahendravaram city. It may be recalled that the tiger on February 1, killed and preyed on a calf at Torredu village along the banks of the river Godavari.

According to information by Thursday night the tiger is said to have moved towards Mandapeta, which borders Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema and Kakinada districts.

East Godavari District Forest Officer B. Prabhakara Rao told The Hindu, “The Pune-based expert team from RESQ Trust has joined the NTCA-designated experts to monitor the movements of the tiger across the landscape through thermal drones at night. We have no alternative but to tranquilise it.”  

The tiger believed to be native to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, is said to be moving closer to human habitations. 

Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HyTICOS), which is credited with tiger rescue operations in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has also been roped in for the exercise. “Our team will join the tranquilising exercise on Friday”, said HyTICOS Tiger Conservationist Imran Siddiqui.

Mr. Prabhakara Rao further added that the forest department personnel in the neighbouring districts of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema, Kakinada, Eluru and Polavaram districts are on high alert as the tiger may move in any direction. Given the geography of the area where it killed a cattle on Thursday, the tiger has to walk back the path it covered the past three days to reach the forest cover. 

Meanwhile, East Godvari District Collector Keerthi Chekuri and Superintendent of Police D. Narasimha Kishore have deployed local officials and police personnel to alert locals about the tiger’s movements and have asked them not to attend to their agriculture fields for the time being.