15 more camera traps to be set up

Two cattle placed as baits killed by a tiger; three photos captured

Forest department officials on Sunday continued their operation to capture the animal responsible for the death of a Soliga tribal, Javaraiah. Eye-witnesses of Javaraiah’s death had claimed that Javaraiah was mauled to death by a tiger.

Baits and cages set up by the forest officials, bore some fruit, as a tiger has killed a cattle set up as bait and eaten 20 kilograms of meat. Another cattle, which was also kept as bait, was killed, but not eaten by any animal.  Even though the tiger was not sighted by teams which have been deputed to capture the animal, three photographs of tigers were captured by 10 camera traps set up around the area on Saturday.

H C Kantharaju, Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve said that two of the three photographs were captured close to the area where Javaraiah was found, while another was captured about two kilometres from the area.

“Two photographs are of the same tiger. We have sent all the three photographs to Wildlife Conservation Society in Bangalore, to compare with database of tigers available with them,” he said.

The tiger appears to be healthy. We have set up an additional 15 camera traps in the same vicinity, he said. “We are expecting more photographs to be captured during the night,” he added. Five elephants have also been deployed in the operation to capture the animal. “In the first of the two photographs, there were suspicions that the tiger had injuries inflicted by a snare. The second photograph however, ruled out such an injury,” he said.

Additional Principal Conservator of Forests, C Srinivasan said that more than 50 personnel from the Forest department had taken part in the rescue operation. “Even though the operation was continued till evening, no tiger was spotted by the teams,” he said.

The operation will continue on Monday. Forest officials will also patrol the area during the night, as a precautionary measure, he added.