Wandering tiger strikes again in Basantapur, forest officials on alert

A wandering tiger believed to have left Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district resurfaced on Tuesday morning, killing a calf in Basantapur village, Rajapet mandal.The big cat is suspected to be heading towards Yadagirigutta.

Hyderabad: Hopes by Forest department officials that a wandering tiger had finally exited Yadadri Bhuvanagiri were dashed on Tuesday morning after the big cat made a fresh kill at Basantapur village, Rajapet mandal.

A farmer, K Ramesh, had left the cattle near the well in his fields the previous night. In the morning when he went to milk the cows, he found a calf missing. To his dismay, he found the calf lying dead a few metres away from the well. The tiger had attacked and dragged the calf some distance away. After partially feeding upon the calf, it left it there.

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“Apparently, the tiger was disturbed due to the movement of villagers and withdrew. It will again come to feed upon the remaining carcass. Camera traps are installed and a cage is set up,” said a forest official.

The tiger on Monday was believed to be moving towards Jagdevpur mandal of Siddipet district. However it moved to the east and reached Basathapur village in Rajapet mandal.

“It was moving in the north to south direction. It came to Begumpeta, Ibrahimpur, went to Ralla Jangaon, returned to Dattaipalli, Kondapur, Chinna Lakshmipuram villages. We believed it was heading back to Maharashtra and retracing the route it came through. However, it is now moving in the east direction towards Yadagirigutta,” said an official.

The village sarpanch, M Bhaskar Reddy, said that the animal is suspected to have moved towards the Lakshmakka Palle forest after killing the calf in the morning.

“The animal tracker checked the pugmarks of the tiger in the fields on the village fringes, it is suspected to have moved towards the forest area,” he said.

The local forest officials accompanied by the tiger trackers and local police are tracking the tiger movement. The tiger has been moving in a radius of around 30 kilometers for the last one week.