In another incident of man-animal conflict in Uttar Pradesh, a tiger that has so far mauled eight persons is on the prowl, forcing the forest officials to issue order to either tranquillise it or trap it.
This tiger has been on the continuous move from Deoria to Shahjahanpur in the past four months, and according to unconfirmed reports, claimed eight lives. The tiger’s pug marks were found on the fringes of the forest between Shahjahanpur and Kishanpur sanctuary on Tuesday.
Chief Wildlife Warden BK Patnaik said that order has been issued to either trap or tranquillise this big cat. “It is no easy task as tiger is a cunning animal and trapping is very difficult,” Patnaik told The Pioneer.
He said: “Though it is dangerous for farmers and people living in fringes, this tiger has not been declared man-eater.”
It is proving to be an onerous task to trap this tiger in heavy rains as the forest has water everywhere and the animal is on the move all the time. The forest officials, who have teamed up with the WWF and WTI to trap the tiger, heaved a sigh of relief when the tiger moved from the paddy crops into the forest area of Sehramua, Shahjahanpur, on Tuesday.
The incidents of killings were reported from Deoria range of Pilibhit district in May and continued till August 23. Then this tiger moved to neighbouring Shahajahanpur where it reportedly made two killings in the past one week. On August 27-28, the tiger was located in the Suara forest, while on August 29-30, it stayed in Kesaryapur. On August 31, its pug marks were traced to Sehramau forest of Shahjahanpur.
The tiger, a male of four years, has in most probability just been weaned away from its mother.
“It is semi-trained and perhaps made its first kill when it could not hunt the local animals and found an easy prey in men,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
The official said that the tiger has been identified as the same one through proper pug mark identification. “The tiger was first caught on the camera traps in Pilibhit. The pug marks were then picked up because of its movements in the area. Later, when the tiger shifted to Shahjahanpur, it was identified through same pug marks,” said the official, adding that the tiger has been declared as dangerous, but not a man-eater.
“After the first killings, generally they becoming more daring and move from the forest to the fringes and then into the paddy crops which was the case with this tiger,” he said.
For the team that is working on tranquillising the tiger, the major problem was that the tiger had moved to the paddy fields. “It’s difficult to shoot the dart because any blade can deflect it. Add to it the problem of water-logging in the forest. If the tiger falls in the water and it fills its lungs, it could be fatal for the animal,” he said.
The forest officials are now pinning their hopes on the possibility that the tiger moves from the Sehramua forest, which is two kilometres in width, into the thick forests of Kishanpur sanctuary which is connected through many bridges at the Khuta breach canal. “If it moves into Kishanpur forest it will get plenty of prey to eat. But till that time we are waiting to tranquillise it,” said the official.
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