Villagers suspect animal to be mother in search of its cub
E.M. MANOJ
KALPETTA
The roaring of a big cat, believed to be a mother tiger in search of its cub, every night near a pit in a private plantation at Manthamkolly, a hamlet near Sulthan Bathery under the South Wayanad Forest Division, has triggered panic among the residents.
Forest department officials had rescued a six-month-old female tiger cub that had fallen into the pit on February 17 and released it into the wild on February 18 to rejoin its mother.
The villagers suspect that the mother tiger is roaring every night near the pit as the cub is yet to rejoin it.
More than 100 families live in the area and the recurring presence of the tiger has triggered panic among them.
“Most of the residents in the area depend on daily works for their livelihood and they are not able to to go out owing to the panic triggered by the animal”, Sanu, a youth at Manthamkolly, said.
It starts roaring around 10 p.m. near the pit. The unseen presence of the big cat has also put the dairy farmers in the area in a fix as they are unable to go out in the morning to sell milk in the nearby cooperative depots, Mr. Sanu said.
Forest department officials are yet to spot the tiger cub or its mother after the release. Though the department had set up 11 surveillance cameras in the forest and nearby private plantations even before the release, they are yet to get any images of the animals.
However, the image of a tiger was captured in a CCTV camera set up by a farmer near the pit in the plantation two days ago.
“We are yet to identify the tiger image as the CCTV footage was obscure,” Warden S. Narendra Babu told The Hindu.
“It is sure that a tiger has been roaming in the area for the past many days, but we are yet to ascertain that it is the mother tiger,” Mr. Babu said.
The officials found the footprints of a tiger in the area two days ago, but they could not identify it as those of the mother tiger. Moreover, the presence of one more tiger and its cub has been identified in the forest area, he said.
A team of officials, including members of the Rapid Response Team of the department, staff of the sanctuary and South Wayanad Forest Division are on a search for the roaming tiger, he said.
