As the villagers are mounting up pressure, the forest department has sought permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to capture the tiger, which was captured near Padavaralli of Chikkamagaluru and subsequently released into the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary (in Khanapur taluk), a protected area in Western Ghats on Nov 19.
The forest officials, who wrote a letter asking for permission to the trap the tiger are now awaiting response from the top authority of the department.
Sources said the forest officials had initially decided to release the tiger near Anashi in Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Kannada district. But, they were forced to change the location and released into BWS, about a kilometre away from Talawade village of Khanapur taluk.
The villagers, who were neither informed nor taken into confidence before releasing the big cat in close proximity to their village, had staged angry protests and held the officials hostage for a while and allowed them to leave the village only after they were assured of re-capturing the tiger.
However, in the absence of any permission to capture the tiger from higher authorities, the team of forest officials, police, veterinary doctors and wildlife experts were only monitoring the movements of the tiger. The tiger has been already located and stated to be camping between Gawali and Talawade and Mhaedyi valley.
Since the tiger had already killed two cattle in Gawali during last nine days, a fearsome atmosphere was prevailing in these villages and the residents are insisting that the animal be caught and taken away from their area.
While officials maintained that the tiger was not a man-eater as it had not attacked any human being so far but only cattle for food, the villagers were still apprehensive. Arvind Patil, MLA had also staged a protest in front of the office of Assistant Conservator of Forests in Khanapur town on Monday insisted that the tiger be captured and taken away.
