Straying tiger captured by forest officers in Wayanad

Kozhikode: The forest department has captured the tiger that had attacked three forest watchers at Cheeyambam in Wayanad district on Sunday.
The 13- year-old male tiger was trapped in a cage set by forest officers near the forest boundary under Chethalath forest range early morning on Monday. The animal, which has sustained multiple injuries possibly due to fight with other tigers, has been shifted to Thiruvananthapuram zoo as it requires prolonged medical treatment.

“The tiger walked into the cage around 5.30am. The animal is very weak and has multiple injuries. It has a broken canine and a deep wound on left front leg. It has also lost vision in one eye. The injuries had made it difficult for the tiger to hunt, forcing it to stray into human habitations and prey on domestic animals,” said south Wayanad divisional forest officer P Ranjithkumar.

Wildlife veterinary surgeon Dr Arun Zachariah said that the big cat required emergency medical treatment. “The tiger is very weak and it has a necrotic wound in the right paw making it difficult to hunt or even run. Even after attacking the forest staff on Sunday morning, it had remained in the same area despite the presence of people nearby,” he added.

Three temporary forest watchers were injured in the tiger attack at Cheeyambam near Irulam in south Wayanad forest division on Sunday morning. The incident took place when the trio was perambulating the area where a cage was installed by the forest department to capture the stray tiger at Anapanthi (which borders forest area) following repeated killing of domestic animals in the area on Saturday. Shajan of Anapanthi Colony sustained claw injuries on his head while the others were injured while trying to escape.

The tiger had killed a cow on February 22. It had also killed two pigs from a pig farm last week and two more pigs from the same farm last week following which the state chief wildlife warden ordered its capture.