Kumaram Bheem Asifabad: The tiger, which was on the prowl and spreading panic in the district for almost a week, has finally returned to the forests of Maharashtra by crossing the Pranahita river. The tiger, which allegedly mauled a farmer to death last week and then killed a wild boar, was resting in Bejjur mandal on Tuesday, from where it finally shifted to the neighbouring State.
The tiger, named A3, is said to have taken shelter for a brief period in the forests of Bejjur range after killing the wild boar.
“It entered the forests of Indaram village in Aheri Taluq of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra by crossing the Pranahita River at Bandala revu. Locals in the village on the other side saw the tiger and we have informed Maharashtra Forest officials, who are now tracking its movement ,” a forest official confirmed.
Four animal trackers, staffers of the forest department and volunteers of WCS were on the job to track the tiger while it moved around in the fringe areas of the forest in Telangana, with officials even making plans of capturing the tiger if it attacked any more humans. The same male sub-adult tiger was suspected to have killed a tribal farmer, Sidam Bheem (69), when he was picking cotton balls at Gondapur village in Wankidi mandal, about 90 kilometres from Bejjur, on November 15.
Since then, the tiger was sighted near human settlements, agricultural fields and streams in Kaghaznagar forest division, triggering panic among the rural population. It then drifted towards the forests of Bejjur, from where it is said to have been forced to leave due to stiff territorial conflict from four local tigers that had made the region their home for quite some time now.