JOIN USThree wild tigers on the prowl on Bhopal outskirts
In recent days, Bhopal has been awash with news of wild tigers prowling on its outskirts, creating ripples of excitement among its residents.
Among the three tigers wandering in the suburbs abutting forest areas, one of them was rescued from the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) located at Nabibagh on Berasia Road in the northern part of Bhopal.
Forest department officials received a call on Thursday morning from Bhopal police that a tiger was lying still at the CIAE premises.
“The rescue team found the four-year-old wild cat similar to a male tiger known to be living in the Amoni- Geewdgarh- Samardha forest area for a year,” Conservator of Forest (Bhopal circle) A K Singh said.
Soon as the tiger was spotted at 6 am, a crowd began to gather at the CIAE administrative building to witness the rare sight.
The tiger was at the institute’s premises for nearly six hours. Noticing that the tiger was motionless and there was no forest cover around to push it back in, the rescue team asked PCCF Wildlife to tranquilize the animal.
The dart hit the tiger when it fell from the roof of a storeroom. For some time, it mustered all strength to jump back on to the roof, which proved ineffectual as the medicine took effect and it fell unconscious, said a veterinary doctor from Van Vihar national park Atul Gupta.
Late in the evening, the tiger was shifted to Panna Tiger Reserve where it will be released into the wild.
It is believed that the tiger walked nearly 22 kms to reach CIAE from Amoni forest area.
After leaving the Amoni forest patch, the tiger took a comfortable route through Mugalia Kot, Itkhedi, Akbarpura, Dadvaiy and Dhalasi forest patches to wander onto the premises of CIAE, said a senior forest official.
Instances of tigers straying out of the forest areas and entering the human habitations in the outskirts are nothing new.
Some cats have even crossed the municipal limits and in the last few years, there are recorded incidents of tigers and panthers being spotted within ten kilometres of New Market, the heart of Bhopal.
Forest officials said at least ten tigers skulk the Samardha Forest Circle and Sehore- Raisen districts Forest Circle at the city’s northern and south-western fringes
In the last two weeks, two tigers –T1 and T2— have been sighted in Kaliasot and Kerwa localities on the southwest that connects with the Ratapani Tiger Reserve in Raisen district. Similarly, tigress – T 21 and three of her cubs showed up in Samasgarh Forest area, a part of the Sehore- Raisen districts Forest Circle.