Irked over tiger attacks, farmers in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar lock forest department officials in cage

Gundlupet: Irked over the alleged negligence of the Forest Department in capturing the tiger that has been attacking their livestock, the farmers on Tuesday locked the department officials in a cage that was installed to rescue the tiger at Bommalapura village, in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district.

The farmers explained that the incidents of wild animals like tigers and leopards killing their livestock is reported in the villages bordering the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR). Despite repeated requests to capture them, the Forest Department has not taken it seriously. They had placed a cage but, did not take any measures to resolve the issue. A calf was killed in a tiger attack three days ago, they complained.

When the Forest department staff visited Bommalapura on Tuesday, we locked them into the cage, condemning their negligence, the farmers said.

Learning about the incident, Gundlupet ACF Suresh and Bandipur ACF Naveen Kumar rushed to the spot and talked to the farmers.

Only after the officials assured the farmers of launching a combing operation, using tamed elephants, to capture the wild animal, the farmers relented and released the personnel.

Farmers organisation Raitha Sangha leader Honnur Prakash warned that if the Forest Department failed to take action to capture the tiger, it would become inevitable to lay a siege to the department office.