Footsteps of other tiger found, search operation suspended

The forest department personnel suspect the presence of two tigers near Jungle Lodge under the Antarasante Forest Range, in H D Kote taluk.

While the Karapur villagers spotted a tiger on Friday, the forest department personnel found the footsteps of another tiger near Malali village.

According to an officer, the footsteps of the tigers found near Malali and Karapur are different and this confirms the presence of two big cats.

Search operation suspended
Meanwhile, the forest officers suspended the operation, launched on Monday morning to search the tigers, by noon after they failed to locate the animals' footprint.
The Dasara elephants, Arjuna, Abhimanyu and Krishna, were also part of the search operation.

It is suspected that the tiger spotted near Karapur village may have returned to the forest. The animal moving towards the forest has been captured on the trap cameras.
The forest personnel also tried to locate the footsteps of the black cat on the bank of the Kabini backwater to check whether the big cat has moved out of the village. However, the authorities did not confirm about the animal moving out of the area after they failed in their effort.

Additional Principal Conservator of Forests Jayaram, Principal Conservator of Forests Punati Sridhar, Antarasante Forest Range Assistant Conservator of Forests Poovaiah and others were part of the search operation.