Local residents have become restive with the Forest department’s efforts to capture the elusive tiger in Wayanad yet to succeed.
Despite intensive efforts, the tiger that is keeping Kurukkanmoola residents on their toes remained elusive for the 17th day on Friday.
Some villagers sighted the animal at Puthiyedam, near Payyampally, in the Mananthavady municipal limits on Thursday night and launched a search operation in vain. An altercation ensued between forest officials and villagers when the former reached the spot around 7.30 a.m.
Villagers’ charge
The absence of senior officials to supervise the operation to immobilise the big cat at night provoked the mob. The public complained that some officials attacked a group of villagers, including Mananthavady councillor Vipin Venugopal. A visual of a front-line forest staff taking a dagger from the sheath during the scuffle went viral on social media. His colleague was seen trying to deter him.
The search for the tiger was intensified in plantations, forest, and bushes with the support of officers drawn from Kannur and Kozhikode and the ‘kumki’ squad. However, the efforts were in vain as the team could not spot the tiger even by late evening.
More options
“We are planning to make a call playback, playing a recorded mating call of tigers, to attract the elusive tiger to the cage to trap the animal in the evening,” D.K. Vinod Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Northern Circle, Kannur, said.
“We have also ordered a thermal unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor the movements of the animal during night hours. We are also planning to hire volunteers from local people to help forest personnel in the operations,” he said.
The carnivore has reportedly killed 16 domestic animals at Kurukkanmoola and adjacent areas in the Begur range under the North Wayanad Forest Division in a fortnight.
Task force in place
Meanwhile, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran called for the support of the public in the combing operations to capture the tiger.
A task force, consisting of 233 officials, supervised by the Chief Conservator of Forest (Northern Circle), has been on duty apart from 125 forest personnel deployed for patrolling, Mr.Saseendran said.
He said 36 surveillance cameras had been installed in the area to monitor the movement of the predator and five cages set up to trap the animal. Three drones were also being used for monitoring the movement of the tiger.
“Chief Wildlife Warden Bennichen Thomas would assess the situation after visiting the site on Friday and measures would be adopted as per his report,” the Minister said adding adequate compensation would be provided to farmers who had lost their cattle after getting post-mortem examination reports.
The Kerala High Court assessed the situation through videoconferencing. The department would inquire into the issues related to the scuffle between some forest officials and villagers, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the district administration has made two executive magistrates in charge of law and order in the Mananthavady municipality and the Payyampally and Manathavady village limits in the wake of the tense situation there. They are Mananthavady tahsildar Jose Paul Chittilappally (9447097704) and Mananthavady tahsildar (Land Records) M.J. Augustine (8547616701).