TN: Man-eater tigress shot dead

Ending a fortnight of terror, the man-eater tigress which had killed three persons, was today shot dead in a local village.

The animal first killed a woman in Solada village on January 5, then a man in Doddabetta and another man during the fortnight, forcing the administration to intensify operations to capture it.

Special task force personnel, snipers and kumkis (tamed elephants), for carrying sharp shooters through the jungles, were engaged to trap the animal, but it remained elusive.

Though the images of the animal were captured in three cameras when it came to drink water, the force was not able to trap it in any of the six cages kept at strategic points during the operations, which were supervised by District Collector P Shankar.

Even as the tigress took away a cow from a village some days ago, the force was not able to trace it, resulting in the panic-stricken villagers being more restive.

Besides, the villagers were also angry as they were not able to attend to their day-to-day work, depriving them of their daily wages.

As the news spread that a pig was dragged out by the tigress this morning, more than 1,000 angry villagers joined the combing operations along with sickles and wooden logs.

When the tigress took away a cow this evening, it was decided to eliminate the animal and the force surrounded the possible hideout in Kappachi village this evening, District Forest Officer Bhadrasamy told PTI.

"Target clear" was his first reaction as three of the many shots fired by the officials were bang on target and some more shots were fired to ensure that the tigress did not escape.

Officials were not allowing anybody near the carcass and some 250 personnel were standing on duty to prevent villagers from barging into the spot, officials said.

Earlier, officials suspected the man-eater to be a tiger.