Forest Department officials led by V. Ratheesan, Chethalayath forest range officer, under the South Wayanad forest division, with the support of local people at Marakkadavu, near Pulpally, drove away a stray tiger to the Nagarhole tiger reserve in Karnataka on Wednesday.
“The big cat is suspected to have reached Marakkadavu from the Gundara forest range under the Nagarhole tiger reserve in Karnataka on the opposite bank of the Kabani river on the Kerala-Karnataka border,” Mr. Ratheesan said.
The animal had created panic among the Marakkadavu and Bhoothanam residents after it killed two heads of cattle in a few days.
“The tiger was hiding inside a bamboo cluster on the riverbank.
The operation began around 5.30 p.m. and by 7.30 p.m. we were able to drive the tiger to Gundara forest on the opposite bank. We burst firecrackers and raised noise to scare way the tiger,” Mr. Ratheesan said.
Meanwhile, Forest Department officials set up a cage with live bait to trap a straying leopard at Gudalaikunnu here on Wednesday. The animal has been creating panic among the residents in the area for the past one week.
The officials tried to chase it away to the nearby forest but did not succeed.
