Wandering tiger returns to reserve forest after scaring villagers in Siddipet

A tiger that ventured near Vithalapur village in Siddipet returned to a 1,200-hectare reserve forest. Forest officials and veterinarians are monitoring its movements after pugmarks were found and villagers reported growls. The tiger traveled 15 km in the past ten days.

Hyderabad: The wandering tiger that moved towards Vithalapur village in Chinnakodur mandal of Siddipet returned to the reserve forest spread over nearly 1200 hectares between Gundaram and Chowdharam villages on Sunday.

“Fresh images of the tiger were captured by the camera traps set up in the forest. It is wandering in the reserve forest. Our teams are monitoring its movement closely,” said a forest official.

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The tiger, after staying in the reserve forest since Thursday night for two days, had later moved westwards towards the Vithalapur village. Its pugmarks were found in the village outskirts by farmers, creating panic in several villages on Sunday. On being alerted by the forest officials, the teams throughout the day checked the surroundings of the village for the presence of a tiger and alerted the people in nearby villages. However, there was no trace of the tiger. On Sunday night, villagers complained that they heard the tiger growl.

The forest officials, along with the veterinarians, are camping in the reserve forest and monitoring the movement of the tiger. “We are on standby to assist the forest teams in case of human-animal conflict. In an emergency, we cannot rush to the spot immediately, so we are accompanying them,” said a veterinarian who is camping in the reserve forest.

The reserve forest is abundant with trees and long grass. The hills provide a safe shelter to the tiger, and there is availability of water with two water bodies on either side of the forest.

For the last ten days, the tiger travelled a distance of 15 kilometres between Arepalli village in Koheda mandal and Chowdharam. Earlier, it travelled around 10 to 15 kilometres a day and killed several cattle at short intervals.