<p>The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has appreciated the role played by residents of Nidugumba in Kodagu district who exhibited “positive conservation attitude” and saved a tigress that was snagged in the barbed wire fence of a coffee estate on December 4.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Acting with responsibility, the coffee planter Sullimada Muthanna and the village community as a whole prevented any mobbing and harassing of the struggling tiger. <br /><br />Instead, they contacted the forest staff of Nagarahole National Park. A team led by Field Director Basavaraj Hosmath and Deputy Director Kumar Pushkar, forest rangers, staff and veterinarians arrived swiftly and took control of the situation. <br /><br />In the absence of violent mob behaviour and, with cooperation of the villagers, they safely tranquilised the big cat, untangled it from the fence and transported it to the Mysore zoo.<br /><br /> The exemplary restraint and positive conservation attitude of Nidugumba village community is appreciated,” eminent tiger conservationist Dr Ullas Karanth of WCS said in a press release on Thursday.<br /><br />“Big cats, when caught in snares or fences struggle hard and often injure themselves. The tigress is now undergoing a close examination to assess her injuries, age and health status so that an informed decision can be made about her future,” he said.<br /><br />WCS is now searching its research database of over 600 camera-trap tiger photos in Karnataka, to see if this tigress has an history of photographic capture in the region.<br /><br />Dr Karanth said that this happy outcome to a conflict situation stood in stark contrast to the tragic incident in Wayanad, Kerala, on December 2, where a cornered tiger was tranquilised and then shot dead, amidst chaos created by local mobs.<br /><br />Nidugumba is 1.2 km from the edge of Nagarahole National Park. Nagarahole is known to hold high densities of 10 to 12 tigers per 100 sq km and is producing a surplus of animals each year, which try to disperse as shown by the long term tiger population dynamic studies conducted by WCS, he said.<br /><br /></p>
<p>The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has appreciated the role played by residents of Nidugumba in Kodagu district who exhibited “positive conservation attitude” and saved a tigress that was snagged in the barbed wire fence of a coffee estate on December 4.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Acting with responsibility, the coffee planter Sullimada Muthanna and the village community as a whole prevented any mobbing and harassing of the struggling tiger. <br /><br />Instead, they contacted the forest staff of Nagarahole National Park. A team led by Field Director Basavaraj Hosmath and Deputy Director Kumar Pushkar, forest rangers, staff and veterinarians arrived swiftly and took control of the situation. <br /><br />In the absence of violent mob behaviour and, with cooperation of the villagers, they safely tranquilised the big cat, untangled it from the fence and transported it to the Mysore zoo.<br /><br /> The exemplary restraint and positive conservation attitude of Nidugumba village community is appreciated,” eminent tiger conservationist Dr Ullas Karanth of WCS said in a press release on Thursday.<br /><br />“Big cats, when caught in snares or fences struggle hard and often injure themselves. The tigress is now undergoing a close examination to assess her injuries, age and health status so that an informed decision can be made about her future,” he said.<br /><br />WCS is now searching its research database of over 600 camera-trap tiger photos in Karnataka, to see if this tigress has an history of photographic capture in the region.<br /><br />Dr Karanth said that this happy outcome to a conflict situation stood in stark contrast to the tragic incident in Wayanad, Kerala, on December 2, where a cornered tiger was tranquilised and then shot dead, amidst chaos created by local mobs.<br /><br />Nidugumba is 1.2 km from the edge of Nagarahole National Park. Nagarahole is known to hold high densities of 10 to 12 tigers per 100 sq km and is producing a surplus of animals each year, which try to disperse as shown by the long term tiger population dynamic studies conducted by WCS, he said.<br /><br /></p>
