Villages in Siddipet, Jangaon gripped by fear as tiger kills cattle, leaves pugmarks
Villages in Siddipet and Jangaon districts of Telangana witnessed panic after tiger pugmarks were spotted and cattle were killed. Farmers reported sightings in Dhoolmitta mandal, while Ammapur and Veldanda villages saw two calves killed.
Hyderabad: Panic gripped the villages of Dhoolmitta mandal in Siddipet district after a tiger’s movement was reported in some villages on Saturday afternoon.
A few farmers noticed the pugmarks of a tiger in the fields in Bairanpalle, Kootigal, and Bekkal, village in Dhoolmitta. “After getting information we alerted the forest officials, the teams reached the village outskirts. The team visited the Kootigal village field and headed to a neighbouring village,” said Kootigal village sarpanch, Balakrishna Dasaram.
The tiger pugmarks were traced till the Bairanpalle village outskirts till evening. “Tom-tom was done to inform the people to be on alert. They are not to venture into the fields early morning until there is confirmation that the tiger had left the area,” said Bairanpalle Sarpanch, Raja Mallaiah.
In the morning, panic escalated in the villages of Ammapur and Veldanda in Jangaon after the tiger killed two calves in a field. The cattle were tied to a tree near the agriculture well by a farmer the previous night. When he visited the place in the morning, he found them dead. The pugmarks of the tiger were found in the surroundings,” said Ammapur sarpanch, B Bapuraju.
The tiger, on Friday morning, had killed a calf at Mandalagudem village in Raghunathpally mandal and moved 10 kilometres away from the place as the tiger trackers and rescue teams were trying to trace its movement. In the night, it reached Ammapur village and attacked the cattle.
The tiger moved into Siddipet around afternoon, crossing the non-forest areas. It covered a distance of around 12 km within a few hours. The forest officials believe the tiger is now returning towards Maharashtra as it did not find a mate and is not a suitable area to establish its territory.
