Vandalur zoo authorities on Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief when the tigress Vidya was finally captured with a trap inside the animal house early in the morning.
K.S.S.V.P. Reddy, zoo director, said that on Monday, the staff had removed a portion of the wall on the eastern side of the animal house. A drop gate was set up and eight kg of beef was hung on a wire tied to the gate.
On Tuesday morning, around 4.30 a.m., the tigress, smelling the meat, entered the animal house. When it tried to grab the feed, the wire snapped and the drop gate automatically fell, confining Vidya to the animal house. However, even around 11.30 a.m., she was in an agitated state.
Zoo authorities said that on the day the wall collapsed, Vidya had refused come back to the animal house.
The authorities did not take a chance and completed the work of erecting a chain link fence immediately. However, that night, Vidya attempted to climb the rubble at the site of the collapse. But, on sensing the presence of humans on the other side, she gave up the idea of climbing further, they said.
Vidya has the habit of staying outside the animal house for two or three days at a stretch.
In order to allow the animal to roam around, authorities are planning to create an open padak area. This would enable Vidya and the four other tiger cubs, all about two years old, to freely move around within the enclosure.
The cubs could not even enter the trench portion around the enclosure, zoo authorities said.
