After human kill, tiger from Maharashtra faces territorial conflict from local tigers in Asifabad

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: The tiger that has been roaming around Kaghaznagar forest area, is now said to be taking temporary shelter in the forests of the Bejjur range. This is after killing a wild boar, feasting on it and walking for nearly 100 kilometres in the last six days. Forest officials say this tiger is […]

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: The tiger that has been roaming around Kaghaznagar forest area, is now said to be taking temporary shelter in the forests of the Bejjur range. This is after killing a wild boar, feasting on it and walking for nearly 100 kilometres in the last six days. Forest officials say this tiger is facing a stiff territorial conflict from three resident tigers.

“The tiger is moving in the peripherals of a territory marked by a scent of urine by a resident tiger. It was once chased by the resident tiger for trying to enter the territory on Monday. It has to be seen whether the visitor will gain an upper hand by defeating the local tiger or return to its habitat in Maharashtra,” a forest official told Telangana Today.

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The visiting tiger from Maharashtra, which is also suspected to have mauled a tribal farmer Sidam Bheem (69), to death in Wankidi on November 15, is said to have been forced to drift towards the forests of Kaghaznagar division following conflict with a local tiger on November 17. It crossed the Kaghaznagar forest range and has now entered the forests of Bejjur range, where two male and two female tigers have already been residing for quite a long time.

Authorities of the forest department say tigers that win the battle of territories occupy the habitat and reign over it for a long period. They said the big cats establish supremacy over territories using pheromones, scratching trees and glues. They reasoned that the pheromones play a crucial role in communication among tigers.

Meanwhile, the tiger’s halt in the Bejjur forests has brought relief to Forest officials who were spending sleepless nights tracking it and also to the rural population, who have been living in fear ever since the human kill in Wankidi. Officials said the tiger might return to the forests of Maharashtra or settle in the wilds of this region, depending on a wide range of factors including the territorial conflict.