Telangana: Kawal Tiger Reserve’s core likely to see tiger movement after 8 years

According to official information, a tiger has entered the forests of Edulawada forest in Asifabad mandal by crossing the National Highway 363 indicates a positive answer.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Will the core of Kawal Tiger Reserve be able to see movement of tigers after a long gap? According to official information, a tiger has entered the forests of Edulawada forest in Asifabad mandal by crossing the National Highway 363 indicates a positive answer.

Tigers from Maharashtra’s Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve have often been migrating to the wild of Kaghaznagar forest division, a corridor of KTR, in search of prey and territory for quite a long time. They sometimes take shelter in the forests of Bellampalli and Chennur divisions. However, they are not entering the core of the reserve for reasons unknown.

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This tiger named S-12 stayed in the forests of Kaghaznagar division till a few weeks back and managed to cross the busy national highway for the first time in recent times. It reached the Vattivagu irrigation project in Asifabad mandal. It killed a cow at Dongargaon village in this region. It was earlier sighted near the opencast mining projects of SCCL at Kairiguda village in Rebbena mandal on Tuesday.

“The tiger drifted towards Tiryani mandal and killed another cow on Wednesday. Movement of the tiger is being monitored. Awareness is being created among locals over the presence of the tiger. Rural folks are requested not to harm the tiger and to avoid sudden confrontation with it,” District Forest Officer Neeraj Kumar Tebriwal told ‘Telangana Today.’

Incidentally, Tiryani mandal is located close to the core of the KTR. “The tiger can easily move into the core of the reserve if it can cross hillocks and forests conducive to inhabitation of the tigers. However, direction of the movement of a tiger is unpredictable,” an activist involved in tiger conservation said.

In spite of a slew of measures including creating gross lands to ensure sufficient prey base for tigers, the KTR could not draw a tiger since 2016, worrying officials of the forest department. A tiger killed cattle in the forests of Kaddampeddur mandal but subsequently entered the forests of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district eight years back.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority in the status of tigers in 2022 pointed out that no tigers were detected in the reserve except for a few individuals in Kaghaznagar. The 42 reserve of the country was created in 2012 with the cover encompassing 892 square kilometres in 2022.