Telangana forms panel to deal with tiger that killed a man

Hyderabad, Nov 13 : Telangana’s forest department has formed a committee to deal with the tiger which killed a man in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district on Wednesday.

The Chief Wildlife Warden has constituted a committee to deal with the tiger as per the Standard Operating Procedure issued by National Tiger Conservation Authority. The committee, which consists of NGOs, veterinary officers, Gram Sarpanch and forest officials, will regularly meet to assess the situation and take all possible measures to ensure safety of people and also the tiger, officials said.

Siddam Vignesh (20) was killed by a tiger on November 11 in Girelli forest area of Rebanna Range in Asifabad division.

The victim along with two minor boys aged 9 to 10 years belonging to Digada village of Dahegaon mandal went to Peddavagu stream in Girelli forest area for fishing. After collecting a few fish, the victim in order to make a temporary basket, went to the bushes at a distance away to pluck some leaves.

While doing so, the victim was attacked by a tiger. The body was dragged over some distance and was partly eaten. The two boys who accompanied the victim rushed to Digada village and raised an alarm. The villagers came to the site and retrieved the body.

Forest officials made a thorough search of the area and found pugmarks of a tiger. A detailed study shows that the pugmark are of a tiger which is new to the area as the pugmarks do not match with the pugmarks of tigers moving regularly in this area and surrounding tiger corridor area for last few years. This big cat seems to have come to this area from Maharashtra recently.

The Conservator of Forests, Adilabad has formed seven teams each with five members to conduct round the clock patrolling in the limits of the seven surrounding villages. The village sarpanch, elders and villagers are cooperating with the staff and have formed teams among themselves for protection of persons and village livestock.

The latest report indicate that the tiger has moved towards Penchikalpet Range of Kagaznagar division which is bordering Maharashtra. The continuous tracking of the tiger indicates that it could be moving back towards Maharashtra State.

The 35 tiger trackers deployed by Forest Department in seven groups will continue do patrolling in the forest areas and villages adjoining the forests.

Meanwhile, the forest department on Friday paid Rs.5 lakh compensation to the family of the youth killed by the tiger.

Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.