Mancherial forests see migration of tiger after a gap of year

The tiger apparently drifted into the forests here from the forests of the neighboring Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in search of territory

Mancherial: The sighting and movement of a tiger has been reported in the forests of the district after a gap of nearly a year.

The tiger apparently drifted into the forests here from the forests of the neighboring Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in search of territory. It killed a cow, which was grazing in the wild, soon after setting its foot in the forests of Bellampalli division four days ago.

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Forest officials recorded pugmarks from the spot of the cattle killing. They have installed over 60 CCTV camera traps to track the movement of the tiger. They deployed animal trackers, base camp watchers and members of a voluntary organisation to trail the tiger and to ensure its safe stay.

“It was a 22-month-old tiger and we suspect it to be K-12, one of the fully grown cubs of K8 inhabiting the forests of Asifabad,” a forest official said. K8 was an offspring of Phalguna, which migrated to the forests of Asifabad from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve of Chandrapur in Maharashtra in 2017.

A tiger was last sighted at an opencast project belonging to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) on the outskirts of Ramakrishnapur in November 2022, panicking locals and coal miners.