Villagers of Tirthkunde and Rankunde, near here, along with the students of Visvesvaraya Technology University (VTU) were gripped with fear due to the presence of a wild animal in these areas since Sunday night.
The wild animal is said to have attacked three grazing cattle in the forest areas on the outskirts of Tirthkunde on Sunday afternoon. Villagers of Rankunde claimed to have seen a tiger later in the night.
Shivaraj Adeppa Hugar, a third semester student of MCA at VTU, said he spotted a tiger near the tennis court of the campus hostel. While on his way for a morning jog at around 7.30 a.m. on Monday, he saw the tiger relaxing in a thick bush. Shocked and scared, he ran back to his hostel room.
Meanwhile, some devotees of Ayyappa Swami spotted the tiger at about 5.30 a.m. near VTU campus and alerted the personnel and students taking morning walk. Forest officials were informed, who rushed to the campus immediately, official sources said.
However, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ambadi Madhav categorically ruled out that the wild cat was a tiger. He told The Hindu that though a few tigers have been spotted in and around Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Khanapur taluk, the possibility of an attack by either a leopard or hyena higher than that by a tiger. He said there was no confirmation about the presence of a tiger.
Since the villagers and students fear that a wild animal was camping behind VTU campus, a team was stationed there for combing the area, he said.