Residents block road alleging apathy by Forest dept. in capturing elusive tiger
The residents of Manthadam and Edakkad near Kenichira in Wayanad blocked the Sulthan Bathery-Panamaram highway on June 23 (Sunday) morning to protest against alleged apathy of the Forest Department in capturing a tiger that has caused panic in the area under the South Wayanad forest division.
Three heads of cattle were reportedly killed by the big cat on June 22 (Saturday) night. The tiger had allegedly attacked two cows within a span of four days.
Forest officials had set up two cages and installed 13 surveillance cameras to capture the tiger’s movements in the area, but they were yet to capture the animal. The villagers demanded to shoot the animal as it had allegedly killed four heads of cattle.
Later, the South Wayanad Forest Divisional Officer P. Ranjith assured residents that the tiger would be captured after tranquillisation and a compensation of ₹30,000 per animal would be given to the owners. He said that round-the-clock patrolling would be intensified and more surveillance cameras would be installed.
Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran directed forest officials to take necessary steps to capture the animal. He added that he had instructed the Chief Wildlife Warden to issue an order for chemical immobilisation, if capturing the animal with cages was not feasible.
The Forest officials said they had identified the animal as Tholpetty-17, a 10-year-old tiger resident of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Telegram
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