Massive search on for Gollaprolu’s tiger, identified as young adult male

KAKINADA: District authorities have formed four teams, including at least 120 forest officials, to trace and capture the tiger that has been on the prowl near Kodavali village in Kakinada’s Gollaprolu mandal.Fresh visuals of the tiger received at 2.13 am on Sunday confirmed it to be a young, adult male. Officials have set up camera traps at nearly 40 places in Kodavali and Chintaluru villages after the wild cat had killed six buffaloes and dragged the carcass of one buffalo nearly 10 metres towards the hills between Kodavali and Gollaprolu villages.

Revenue and forest officials urged people not to venture into agriculture fields or the hills. They have been asked not to graze cattle in the fields. “The tiger will return to the forest if it does not get its prey,’’ the officials added. The wildlife protection team and Visakhapatnam zoo authorities have been directed to arrange large cages and nets to capture the animal, if it ventures into human habitat again. Forest officials explained that tigers could sustain without food for four to five days. “As it has had food, it might not venture out for the next couple of days,” they pointed out. A veterinary doctor has also been deployed. “Earlier, forest officials had captured a leopard at Mummidivaram mandal alive. The same technique will be adopted to capture the tiger,” DFO IKV Raju told TNIE.

VISIT FROM THE WILD

Fights over territory rights often drive the defeated animal out of forests
Livestock are easy prey
Injured/aged animals that cannot hunt, seek easy prey
Lack of prey, water force tigers out 
Deforestation
Infrastructure development (Roads, other constructions in forests)