Tigress and cubs roaming Asifabad finally return to Maharashtra

A truck driver shot a video of the quartet and shared it with his friends, with the clip soon going viral on social media.

Adilabad: The tigress and her three cubs, which were sighted moving on the banks of Penganga and in the plains in Bheempur mandal, returned to Maharashtra by crossing Penganga river on Wednesday.

The development brought relief to authorities of the Forest department and locals as well.

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Authorities of the forest department said the tiger family went back to Tippeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary of Yavatmal district in neighbouring Maharashtra from where they had drifted towards Telangana in search of territory in the first week of November.

“The family crossed the Penganga river at Thamsi (K) village in Bheempur and reentered Maharashtra. The tigress and it’s cubs apparently returned to the reserve following some inconvenience here,” an official said.

The quartet was being sighted in canals and reservoirs of Chanaka-Korata irrigation project for over three weeks. Their movements were recorded on mobile phones by drivers of trucks who in turn were sharing the videos with their friends. The video clips went viral on social media platforms. The movement of the tigress and the three cubs also triggered panic among dwellers of many villages in Bheempur mandal. Forest officials had then recorded pugmarks of the tigers and asked the public to be cautious.

Steps were also taken to provide a safe passage for them and to prevent human loss. Four animal trackers, 10 base camp watchers, a rapid rescue team, three task force staffers and staffers of the department were deployed to track their movements. Volunteers of non-governmental organisations such as Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) too were part of the operation.

Motorists and passengers of a TSRTC bus too had claimed that a tiger was moving on a road between Bombayiguda and Penchikalpet mandal centre on Tuesday night. Farmers said they had spotted pugmarks of a tiger in a paddy field at Rebbena village in Bejjur mandal on Tuesday. Foresters visited the spot and recorded the pugmarks.