Elusive tiger not a man-eater, trapping remains a challenge: Forest official

Shekhar Kumar Niraj, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu, speaking to ETV Bharat made it clear that the elusive tiger is not a 'man eater'. Interestingly, this assertion comes after Madras High Court's direction not to kill the animal. But, tracking and tranquilising the beast, named MDT - 23 (Mudumalai Division Tiger) is no easy task considering the difficult forest terrain of the Western Ghats, writes ETV Bharat Chennai Bureau Chief MC Rajan.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu):Even as the search for the stray tiger that is believed to have killed four people continues close to a fortnight in the Western Ghats, a top official of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department asserted that the feline is not a 'man eater' and that efforts are on to catch it and relocate it. He also admitted that the operation is a challenging one and might extend for months since a similar attempt made earlier to catch a leopard had taken eight months.

Having visited the forest area last week, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu, Shekhar Kumar Niraj, made it clear that the elusive tiger is not a 'man eater'. Interestingly, this assertion comes after Madras High Court's direction not to kill the animal. A string of four deaths besides the killing of scores of cattle attributed to the feline had sent shivers down the spine among the residents of Masinagudi and adjoining areas in the Nilgiris mountains. And there was a clamour for shooting it down. But, tracking and tranquilising the beast, named MDT - 23 (Mudumalai Division Tiger) is no easy task considering the difficult forest terrain of the Western Ghats.

"To be termed a man-eater, the tiger should have lived on humans as its prey. But that is not the case here. Even the killings attributed to it are not conclusive. It also preys on cattle. We are engaged in an arduous task of catching the beast by tranquilising it," Niraj told ETV Bharat after taking stock of the search operations in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. However, he maintained that with the available evidence, the deaths are being scrutinised to ascertain whether they were caused by the wild beast.

The first of the four deaths, of a woman, happened 11 months ago. And the latest one of a man grazing cattle occurred on October 1.

"It is yet to be established that the first two deaths were by the tiger. We need DNA analysis to verify that," he pointed out, adding that it could be termed a 'problematic tiger'.

"Daily we are analysing the data, like the pug marks of the feline and trap images and fine-tune our strategy. It is probably wounded and due to the inability to survive in the jungles had strayed for food. Besides forest personnel and six teams of veterinarians as well as volunteers, we have also employed drones to identify its whereabouts,” he explained about the ongoing operations.

"The tiger might get disturbed if confined in a cage. But, that could be overcome. Relocating it to a zoo would be taken after a medical examination of the big cat. In the wild, tigers live up to 14 years but in a zoo, their life could be extended a further ten years. Efforts are on to put radio collars on problematic stray tigers to avert frequent man-animal conflicts. We will soon receive them from New Delhi," he added.

This is the first time that the Forest Department had quelled reports of shooting down the feline and significantly it comes a day after Madras High Court's direction that the wild cat should not be killed. The Court also made it clear that it might not be a man-eater. Following a string of four deaths and killing of nearly 50 cattle, attributed to the tiger which had strayed into the buffer zone, the locals of Masinagudi and adjoining areas have demanded that the 'killer tiger' should be shot dead. When the clamour for its killing got louder, petitions were filed and the High Court had restrained the Forest Department.

Intermittent rain and difficult terrain has made the hunting of the tiger named MDT-23 a challenging one. The story of MDT-23 also has similarities with the Vidya Balan blockbuster, Sherni. But, it appears to be a long wait.