The tigress caught inside the cage along with the animal carcass used as bait.
Credit: DH Photo
Chamarajanagar: A seven-year-old female tiger fell into a trap laid by the forest department near Veeranapura lake, in Chamarajanagar taluk in the wee hours of Friday. The tigress was reportedly sighted with her four cubs at Nanjadevanapura and surrounding villages, and remained elusive for almost 20 days.
The forest department had placed a cage in a property belonging to one Natesh to trap the tigress that had been attacking livestock and the people at Nanjadevanapura and surrounding villages. They had placed a Tumakuru model cattle pen cage and also placed meat as bait. The tiger, which had come to feed on the meat, was caught in the trap on Friday.
Upon receiving confirmation, forest department officials rushed to the spot and tranquilised the tigress. After examining the tigress, they treated it so that it returned to normal condition.
As the four cubs that were with the mother are missing, the Forest department has placed the mother tiger and the carcass of the cattle in the cage and are closely monitoring the situation.
Thermal drones are being used to trace the cubs, officials said.
Chamarajanagar Circle CCF Malathi Priya, BRT DFO B S Sripathi, ACF Manjunath, Veterinarian Adarsh, Wasim and others were present during the operations.
Even though the rescue of the mother tiger has brought relief to the villagers, the disappearance of four tiger cubs has created fresh concern. There is a fear that the sub-adult tiger cubs may now also attack livestock.