By Our Staff Reporter
Ramnagar, 21 Feb: After several days of hard work, forest officials finally succeeded in trapping the tiger which is suspected to have killed three women in the Dhela Zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve. The tiger was tranquilised and caught late last night and taken to the Dhela Rescue Centre.
It is worth noting that, two days ago, a woman named Kala Devi, aged 50 years, had gone to the forest with other friends to collect wood in the Punjabpur area falling in the Dhela Range of Corbett National Park, where she was attacked and killed by a tiger. After the incident, other women ran to the village and informed the villagers and the family members of Kala Devi. A search was launched for the women and her badly mutilated body was recovered by the villagers and the forest officials around two kilometres away from the spot from where she was picked up by the tiger.
The same tiger was also suspected to have killed Durga Devi, Pooja Devi, Anita Devi in Sawalde, Dhela and Patrani areas over the past few weeks.
As a result, two teams of officials from Corbett Tiger Reserve were jointly engaged to trap this tiger. These teams continuously attempted to trace the location of the tiger with drones over the past two days but were unable to locate him. However, on Tuesday night, it was reported that the tiger had killed a buffalo nearby. Consequently, the forest teams increased surveillance around the killed buffalo in the hope that the tiger would return to its prey. At around midnight, the tiger reached its prey.
Senior veterinarian Dr Dushyant Sharma of Corbett Park and his team shot the tiger with a tranquiliser gun. The tiger fell unconscious on the spot.
The forest personnel and the rescue team caught the tiger, put it in a cage and sent it to the Dhela Rescue Centre. Forest officials informed that a bio- sample has been collected from the tiger which will be sent to the Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). Only after due testing would it be confirmed whether the tiger is the suspected maneater.
Meanwhile, even after the tiger’s capture, the villagers continue to be in panic. The park administration has appealed to the villagers to continue exercising caution.
The Forest Department has also increased security patrols in the surrounding areas.