Jumbos sought in capturing tiger

Forest officials in Pilibhit have sought elephants to help in the operations to tranquilise the tiger roaming in Pooranpur town area of the district for the past fifteen days. The tiger had attacked a villager last week and was last reported to be seen near Dushia Khurd village,merely a kilometre away from the adjoining Haripur forest area. The tranquilising operation is all set to begin from Tuesday.

Divisional Forest Officer A K Singh said the young male tiger seemed to be unable to make out its territory in the nearby forest area. “We had managed to send the tiger in the jungle two days ago using fire crackers and lighting fires near the villages. But,because it is so young,and there might be other tigers in the jungle not allowing it to live there,it came back. Now,we have written to the higher authorities to know whether we should be sending the tiger back to a jungle or keep it in isolation for some time,” said Singh.

A team of two veterinary doctors from Wildlife Trust of India has already arrived in Pilibhit to tranquilise the tiger. “We will need at least two teams for the tranquilising operation. Two more experts are joining us for the operation,” said Singh.

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“Since the forest is thick,we need elephants to traverse the jungle and tranquilise the tiger. We had written to the Dudhwa National Park and have got the permission to bring two elephants from there. They will be arriving by Monday,” said AK Singh.

The tiger is believed to have strayed from Mala River Forest Range in North Pilibhit forest area because of the heat around July first week. It was last seen in the Dudhia Khurd area of Pooranpur town in Pilibhit and had killed a goat three days ago. The tiger had attacked a villager of Daiya village on Wednesday,after which it was not seen near any village area,said Singh.