Elusive tiger roams Turkapally, officials intensify tracking in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri

A tiger that travelled nearly 400 km from Maharashtra has unsettled villagers and forest officials in Turkapally mandal of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. The big cat, first sighted by a forest officer in Chinna Laxmapur, has been captured on trap cameras and identified through pugmarks across multiple villages.

Hyderabad: The elusive tiger continues to give tense moments to the forest officials and villagers in the Turkapally mandal of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district.

For the first time, a forest officer who was camping in the Chinna Laxmapur village located close to the Keesara – Yadadirigutta highway in the district himself saw the tiger in village fringes on Saturday evening.

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In the last few days, the forest officials had seen the pictures of the tiger captured by the trap cameras installed in the forest.

Earlier during the day, the local villagers found the pug marks of the tiger near the village well in the morning and alerted the forest officials about it. A team of forest officials accompanied by the tiger trackers reached the village and recorded the pugmarks of the tiger.

On Friday night, a lorry driver claimed to have seen the tiger at Vasalamarri village, on the Tirumalapuram – Turkapally road around 1 am while it was chasing a wild boar near the dhaba very near to the main road. He immediately alerted some locals at the Turkapally and left.

In the morning, the tiger trackers and forest officials reached the spot and checked the pugmarks to map the route taken by the tiger. Coincidentally, while the forest officials were near the Vasalamarri, they received information about the movement of tigers at Chinna Laxmapur.

The forest officials then headed to the village and collected the pugmarks of the tiger. The villagers were asked to remain vigilant and make no attempts to harm the tiger.

The tiger moved into the Yadadri Bhuvangiri district a fortnight ago and has been roaming. It has killed six cattle in three different villages in the last 15 days. However, since Monday no fresh attack on cattle was reported.

The forest officials have set up camera traps at different locations, set up trap cages and deployed thermal drones to track the tiger.

The tiger is moving in the Turkapally mandal in the district in search of territory. It travelled nearly 400 kilometres to the place from adjoining Maharashtra and roaming in the small forest patches spread in Turkapally mandal.