Forest department, through its first official statement on Friday post the death of a tribal youth in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in a tiger attack, confirmed that the animal was new to the area, and is now found to be on its way towards Maharashtra.
The youth Sidam Vignesh from Digada village of Dahegaon mandal, was attacked by the tiger on November 11 when he went into the forest for leaves, after fishing in Peddavagu stream in Girelli forest area of Rebbana range along with a couple of friends. His body was dragged and partly eaten by the animal.
Following the incident, the forest officials conducted a thorough search of the area and found pug marks of a tiger.
A detailed study of the pug marks showed that they did not match with the pug marks of any of the tigers moving regularly in the area and the surrounding tiger corridor area for the last few years, the statement said. Based on this information, the officials concluded that they are of a tiger which was new to the area.
The Conservator of Forests, Adilabad, C.P.Vinod Kumar, in his latest report, mentioned that the big cat had moved towards Penchikalpet Range of Kagaznagar division going by the pug marks. Continuous tracking of the animal indicates that it could be moving back to the forest region of Maharashtra.
Seven teams each with five members have been constituted to conduct patrolling of seven villages in the vicinity round the clock. Besides, the villagers have formed their own teams for protection of humans and livestock, the statement said.
The Chief Wildlife Warden R.Sobha has, on Friday, constituted a committee to deal with the tiger as per the standard operating procedure issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Headed by Mr.Vinod Kumar, the committee has as its members, Imran Siddiqui from Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HyTiCoS) as nominee of the NTCA, Venkat from the NGO RECAP of Kagaznagar, Veterinary Assistant Surgeon from Kagaz Nagar Shwetha, Sarpanch of Digada village panchayat, and DFO of Kumram Bheem Asifabad, besides the FDO of Asifabad as member-secretary.
Meanwhile, the family of the tiger victim has been handed over a cheque for ₹5 lakh as compensation through the hands of the legislator Koneru Konappa.
COMMents
SHARE