Big cats stray out of Ranthambore, keep officials on their toes

JAIPUR: The forest department and the police had an uphill task in managing the crowd and pushing back the tigress T-73 and tiger T-80 after they strayed out of Ranthambore National Park on Wednesday.
According to forest officials, the big cats ventured out about 500 kilometres away from the park, and were found inside a farm located in Kundera village on Wednesday morning.

“A farmer first informed us about the incident, following which teams were sent to the spot. Guards were deployed around the area in order to cordon it off,” an official said.

The sources in the forest department told TOI that the incident led to several locals and tourists heading to the area in droves to catch a glimpse of the big cats. The senior officials from police rushed also rushed to the spot.

“Tiger T-80 was trailing tigress T-73 for mating. It is suspected that initially tigress had crossed over the RTR, and in her pursuit, T-80 also strayed out. The place they were found sitting is not far from the boundary of RTR,” the official said.

Y K Sahu, field director of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR), told TOI that it was not a rare incident. “This is not the first time that such an incident has taken place. In the past too, animals ventured out. T-73 has already gone back into the reserve, while we expect that T-80 will also return back into the reserve,” he said.

The officials said that both the big cats suspected to have crosses over the parl limits sometimes in Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, the farmer informed the forest officials about the incident following which forest rangers arrived at the area.

“Several locals gathered around the duo, then lot of tourists vehicles also headed to the same direction. Hence, the guards and cops were deployed in the area to ensure that no harm comes to the T-73 and T-80,” the official informed TOI.