Amid frequent stories of poaching in wildcats across the country comes an unusual tale of how villagers forced forest authorities to put on hold a plan to relocate a tigress and its cubs from Bandhavgarh National Park.

The tranquilising guns and cages were ready to shift the tigress and two cubs from Chor Behra area to Bhopal’s Vanvihar National Park because the tiger family was involved in a couple of conflicts with human beings.

In February, the tigress killed a woman who had strayed into the national park to collect wood. Last week, a cow was killed in the forest lodge, following which the forest authorities hastened their relocation plan. A rescue squad was waiting for orders to tranquilise the wildcats when villagers and tourist guides moved in and threatened to take to the streets.

A letter with more than 50 signatures was faxed to the forest authorities in Bhopal and to the New Delhi office of Project Tiger.

“We will lose our livelihood if the tigers are taken away,” said Laxman Singh, one of the signatories who heads the Deendayal Antyodaya Committee in Manpur village. Villagers said the woman was killed only because she entered the tiger’s territory.

Field director Aseem Srivastava said: “There is no immediate plan to shift the family. We are monitoring the mother and the cubs.”