Concerns rise as Tiger K12 goes missing in Mancherial forest for over a week

K12, a male tiger wandered from the wild of Kumram Bheem Asifabad into Mancherial forests a year back and was noticed at regular intervals since then.

Mancherial: Forest officials are worried about the safety of a tiger named K12 which went missing in the forest of Mancherial district for over a week. The development has become a cause for concern to officials in the wake of recent deaths of two tigers in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.

K12, a male tiger wandered from the wild of Kumram Bheem Asifabad into Mancherial forests a year back and was noticed at regular intervals since then. It was moving in different ranges of Bellampalli and Chennur forest divisions. It used to kill cattle in several parts of the habitat.

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Its movement was being tracked by the Forest officials.However, Its movement was not recorded on the CCTV camera traps set up by the forest department. “Animal trackers are unable to trace its presence for the last few days,” a source said. Worried over the tiger’s disappearance, officials are said to have launched an intensive search to find it using special teams.

“Spots frequented by the tiger are being checked, the footage of CCTV camera traps is being scanned. It is suspected that the tiger might have either forgotten its path or strayed into the forests of neighboring Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in search of prey. However, the location of the tiger will be found soon,” a Forest official told ‘Telangana Today’ on condition of anonymity.

It is learnt that the forests in this district have become unsuitable for inhabitation of the tigers. “The forests are dry following scanty rainfall in this monsoon, leaving an adverse impact on the herbivores. As a result, tigers are unable to find sufficient prey in this wild. They are forced to migrate to neighboring forests for prey,” another official felt.

A section of forest officials believed that the tigers were territorial animals and were usually dispersed. They maintained that the tiger would return to the forest soon since it was not facing competition over the territory from another tiger. They stated that it might temporarily be roaming in the forests of surrounding districts in search of female tigers since its season of mating.