Forest Department enhances safety of locals in O’Valley amid ongoing tiger capture efforts
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One of the Theppakadu camp elephants that is involved in the search operation for the tiger that allegedly killed two people at Lauriston in Gudalur. | Photo Credit: SATHYAMOORTHY M
With the search for the elusive tiger, which is believed to have killed two people in O’Valley in Gudalur forest division in August, stretching into the 26th day on Tuesday, the Forest Department has expanded its search operations into the neighbouring forest division of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in a bid to capture the animal.
As signs of the animal’s presence have been limited in Gudalur, the Forest Department has expanded its search into the neighbouring forest ranges of Kargudi and Singara forest ranges with patrol teams combing through the region in order to locate the animal. Based on the department’s knowledge of the tiger, they suspect that the animal could be the same one which has been recorded in the two ranges in the past and that it could have moved back into its previous habitat since the last attack.
On Monday, the Forest Department said that the Technical Advisory Committee constituted in accordance with the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s guidelines held a review meeting to discuss the operation to capture the tiger headed by the Divisional Forest Officer (Gudalur), P. Devaraj.
The Forest Department said that due to the suspicion that the tiger might be moving between Mudumalai and Gudalur forest divisions, another cage has been placed in the border area between the two divisions in another attempt to capture the animal.
Despite the operation’s relative lack of success in capturing the tiger, conservationists have praised the Forest Department’s thorough processes to limit potential interactions between the animal and local residents. Forest department officials confirmed that since the last attack that led to the death of the second person on August 21, there have been no predation of cattle that could be attributed to the tiger, nor any negative interactions with people in the region.
The DFO said the department had assigned field staff to each of the villages in O’Valley to oversee residents’ safety. “We also assigned watchers to tea field and estates while also requesting workers to stay away from coffee estates (where hiding areas for the tiger could be more easily available),” he said. Drone cameras, other than being used for search operations for the tiger, were also being used to monitor the periphery of local villages so wildlife movement can be actively monitored. They had also arranged for travel for school students to and from their homes.
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