The officials of the Forest Department are dilly-dallying in re-capturing the tiger it released on Wednesday, say angry residents.
Villager residents of Talawade and Degaon, along the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Khanapur taluk, claimed that officials were aware of the exact location of the tiger but had not captured it.
The tiger, which was being searched for jointly by Forest and Police Department personnel of Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district and Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary (DWS) in Uttara Kannada district, was captured after it killed a woman near Mullayanagiri Hills of Chickballapur taluk six days ago. It was radio-collared and released about one km from Talawade on Wednesday.
Since the tiger was released so close by, village residents had staged a protest and initially refused to let forest officials leave the village until the tiger was recaptured and released away from human settlements. Accordingly, a joint operation was launched on Thursday morning by Forest Department officials from the two adjoining districts.
However, the officials maintained that there were indications of tiger had moved away towards Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, in north Goa.
