Tamil Nadu forest officials capture ‘man-eater’ tiger in Nigiris
a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu heard a public interest litigation filed by Chennai-based animal rights group People for Cattle in India and ordered the forest department to not 'hunt down' the tiger
Tamil Nadu forest officials on Friday said they had captured the man-eater ‘Mudumalai Division Tiger – 23’ (MDT 23), believed to have killed four people in the past year, in the Nilgiris.
The cat, which had terrorised villagers in Gudalur and Masinagudi, was also believed to have taken 20 heads of cattle, said the officials, who were trying to trap it since September 25.
Upon being informed about the animal’s location on Thursday, the officials said they and a medical team went to the Masinagudi-Theppakkadu Road and successfully fired a tranquilizer dart at it. But the cat gave them the slip.
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Later the officials spotted the animal in Kuthupara and fired another dart. After ensuring the tiger was unconscious, the officials transferred it to a cage.
Visuals of #Tiger T-23 will was tranquilized and captured alive. pic.twitter.com/PX9OetiP0G
— Mugilan Chandrakumar (@Mugilan__C) October 15, 2021
Nearly 100 people, including officials from from Kerala and Karnataka, two tame elephants and three sniffer dogs were involved in the operation.
Earlier this month, the Madras High Court had asked officials to capture the animal alive. The court was passing interim orders on a petition praying for a direction to ensure that the tiger was not killed. The HC also asked the officials to ensure that few people entered the forest to capture the big cat.
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The fourth human death had prompted chief conservator Shekar Kumar Niraj (IFS) to release an order to hunt down the tiger on October 1. However, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu heard a public interest litigation filed by Chennai-based animal rights group People for Cattle in India and ordered the forest department to not “hunt down” the tiger.
The court further asked the principal chief conservator of forests to utilise fewer people on the ground as part of the operation as frequent human movement would cause disturbance to other wildlife.
