Fear grips Turkapally villages after tiger sighting in Yadadri

Villages in Turkapally mandal of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district remain on edge after a tiger was reportedly sighted near Ibrahimpur. Forest officials have installed camera traps and urged residents to report sightings or cattle attacks.

Hyderabad: People staying in different villages of Turkapally mandal of Yadadri Bhuvangiri district continue to stay in fear after a tiger reportedly visited Ibrahimpur village in the mandal three days ago.

On Sunday, a farmer noticed the pugmarks of a tiger in a field and alerted the forest officials. The next day, farmers at Ibrahimpur village complained of two calves being attacked by the tiger and the big cat dragging one of them into the forest.

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“Since Monday morning there is no trace of the tiger in and around the villages. We suspect that it is in the interior forest or might have moved to a different place,” said a forest official.

The forest officials have set up camera traps in different blocks of the forest to track the movement of the tiger. They believe the tiger has crossed over into the Telangana from Tadoba Andhari Forest Reserve in adjoining Maharashtra.

“The tiger is moving in from north towards south. It moved from Tadoba Andhari to Kawal Tiger Reserve, then Karimnnagar, Peddapalli, Siddipet and reached Yadadri Bhuvangiri,” the forest officials believe.

The tiger is suspected to have moved into the Yadadri Bhuvangiri forest a week ago and roamed around. However, they say the tiger might not make the forest its home. “The forest of Yadadri Bhuvanigiri is not a suitable habitation for tiger. It is a young adult aged around 10 years moving in search of a female tiger for mating or in search of a forest patch to carve out its own territory,” said the official.

The Yadadri Bhuvanagiri or erstwhile Nalgonda district has no history of presence of tigers though in Amrabad Forest Reserve in Nallamalla Forest there are several tigers.

Forest officials are waiting for the movement of tiger to be captured in the camera traps set up in the forest. “We cannot confirm if the tiger is present in and around Turkapally or moved out, unless we get some information about its sighting somewhere or a cattle killing is reported,” said the officials.

People here were asked to be on alert and report sighting of tiger or cattle killing to the forest department.