Maharashtra’s tiger enters core of Kawal, cheering officials

Officials are expecting that the tigers would make the reserve as their home considering their efforts to create suitable conditions for their inhabitation.

Mancherial: A tiger was sighted in different parts of Nirmal district forming part of Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) triggering panic among rural folks. The male tiger aged between six and eight years usually seen in Kinwat of neighboring Maharashtra moved in the forests of Boath mandal possibly in search of a female companion in October.

It then drifted into the forests of Kuntala and Sarangapur mandals. It was sighted while crossing Hyderabad-Nagpur NH-44 and entered Mamada mandal a few days back.

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“The royal Bengal tiger spent a few days and killed two cattle in the forests of Mamada before entering the core of KTR on Friday. It might settle here if it finds the habitat conducive. The core of the reserve has a rich prey base of herbivores and offers a safe landscape for tigers,” an official of the forest department said.

Officials are expecting that the tigers would make the reserve as their home considering their efforts to create suitable conditions for their inhabitation. However, the core of the reserve failed to attract a tiger in 2022. It is seeing temporary stay of the tigers at regular intervals, but is unable to witness growth of population of the tigers.

The 41st reserve of the country, KTR was created in 2012. The core of the reserve spans 893 sq km, the buffer zone spans 1,120 sq km. The reserve registered poaching of two tigers in 2018. No tiger has resided in the reserve since then. However, a migrant tiger stayed in Kaddampeddur range for a brief period in 2022.

The national tiger conservation authority (NTCA) in the status of tigers-2022 pointed out that no tigers were detected in the reserve except for a few individuals in Kaghaznagar.