Cage set up to capture elusive tiger in Wayanad village

Animal reportedly kills one more calf

Search is on for the elusive tiger that is believed to have killed as many as nine domestic animals in the Kurukkanmoola area under the North Wayanad Forest Division in a fortnight.

Wayanad Sub Collector and Revenue Divisional officer R. Sreelakshmi on Friday clamped Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in divisions 11,12,13, and 14 of the Mananthavady Municipality.

The prohibition order was issued on the directive of the Chief Wildlife Warden to capture the straying tiger using a cage or applying chemical tranquillization, Ms. Sreelakshmi told the media.

Meanwhile, the animal reportedly killed one more calf owned by Kunju of Mundakkal, a farmer at Cherur, on Thursday night.

The animal was sighted on a private rubber plantation at Cherur, nearly 2 km away from the Thrissilery section of the forest under the Begur Forest Range in the North Wayanad Forest Division, on Friday morning.

A team of Forest officials led by North Wayanad Forest Divisional Officer Ramesh Bishnoi searched the plantation and set up a cage to capture the big cat.

Some frontline forest staff sighted the animal, and they also heard its roar, Mr. Bishnoi said. As many as 100 forest personnel, including members of the Rapid Response Team, were part of the operation.

“We have installed more surveillance cameras in the area to watch the movement of the predator and have also kept the carcass of the calf inside the cage to attract the animal,” Mr. Bishnoi said.