The Department of Forests and the police have launched an intensive search operation to capture the tiger that has left the people in Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district in panic for the last couple of days.
Divisional Forest Conservator Ambadi Madhav said on Friday that nearly 100 people, including 10 sharpshooters of the Anti-Naxal Force and senior police and Forest officials had been engaged in the operation.
Five teams were searching for the wild cat in the forest area. Residents of villages abutting the forest area had been told to be in constant touch with the officials and inform them in case they spot the tiger in their surroundings, he said.
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The Forest and police officials from different districts have been deployed in the area. The teams of armed forces and sharpshooters are combing the forest. As the forest is part of the Western Ghats, spotting the animal is not easy. An elephant has been brought to use in the operation.
If the tiger was found to be with a radio collar, it would be killed, and if it was found to be a tiger with out a radio collar, efforts would be made to tranquilise it, Mr. Madhav said.
The search operation has continued amid reports of the village residents spotting the tiger at different locations. There were reports of the tiger being spotted near Kabanali village in the morning and at a lake at Torahalli in the afternoon. Though the armed staff were immediately dispatched to these locations, the tiger remained elusive till evening.
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The officials have kept cages with sheep and goats as baits at different spots as they are expecting the tiger to come out in search of food.