Asifabad: Tiger continues to roam in rural parts of Kaghaznagar

A tiger was sighted in different parts of Easgaon village in Kaghaznagar mandal on Friday evening and Saturday morning, triggering panic among locals.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A tiger was sighted in different parts of Easgaon village in Kaghaznagar mandal on Friday evening and Saturday morning, triggering panic among locals. The same tiger is suspected to have mauled a tribal farmer to death at Gondapur village in Wankidi mandal on Tuesday.

Titled A3, the tiger was spotted near village, where most of the residents are refugees, early on Saturday morning. It then moved to Raspalli, Anukoda villages in Kaghaznagar mandal and headed to Sirpur (T) covering a distance of 45 kilometres. The sighting of the tiger triggered panic among locals and farmers who were harvesting cotton and paddy crops.

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The tiger earlier strayed into the forests of Vempalli village in Sirpur (T) mandal and in agriculture fields of Shivapuram and Bareguda villages on Friday night after drifting towards this region from Wankidi on Thursday.

It is said to have entered the forests of Telangana from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur of neighboring Maharashtra state in search of territory, and is alleged to have killed Sidam Bheem when he was picking cotton balls. There are also doubts that Bheem was killed by a leopard.

A team of Forest officials led by in-charge District Forest Officer G Dinesh Kumar have been camping in Kaghaznagar since Thursday evening. They launched a special operation to track the movement of the tiger and to avoid human loss. They are planning to capture it if there are any more attacks on humans.

Dinesh Kumar said animal trackers were deployed and CCTV cameras were set up in several parts of Kaghaznagar forest division to track the movement of the tiger and to prevent harm to the animal.

He urged the rural folks and farmers not to venture outdoors after 8 pm and to move in groups. They advised farmers to return from agriculture fields before 6 pm.

Authorities of the forest department believe that the tiger was trying to establish a territory. They feel that it may be facing territorial conflict with the S-9 tiger which had already settled in the forests of Asifabad division and drifted towards the wild of Kaghaznagar division.