Peda Rabha: A male tiger in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district is posing threat to the forest fringe villagers by regularly lifting their cattle, with two calves and a cow being the latest.
On Thursday morning, forest officials discovered a cattle being killed at Peda Rabha village of Anantagiri mandal in the district and in the past 10 days three such incidents were reported.
“This male tiger is actually lifting the cattle more than the female tiger. It is a frequent cattle lifter. This is preying on cattle both in Vizianagaram and Alluri Sitaramaraju districts. It is on the prowl in the border between these two districts,” Paderu divisional forest officer (DFO) Vinod Kumar told PTI on Saturday.
Initially, there were two tigers, one male and female. However, Kumar said since January, the female tiger had left somewhere which could not tracked while the male remained.
He said the tiger has found this part of the jungle, Veduruvada two reserve forest, to be the most suitable habitat, making it home for the past five to six months.
Monitoring the movements of the big cat with around 14 camera traps, has enabled the department to get several pictures and alerting the villagers. Moreover, the officials are talking to the villagers not to resort to any kind of poisoning of the cattle kill, including immediately disposing off those carcasses.
Kumar said the tiger need not be driven away anywhere, highlighting that it is actually roaming in the woods within its territory of some 25 to 40 sq km and only entering the fringe villages sometimes even as it shies away from humans. Further, he noted that tiger has not attacked any human being till now.
Meanwhile, wherever a cattle kill is being discovered, the forest department is following the procedure established by the government, including conducting a panchnama and post-mortem by the veterinary doctor.
The vet has confirmed that these cattle kills were by the tiger for which a compensation of up to Rs 40,000 is being doled out, depending on the size of the bovine.
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