Not one, not two, but three ferocious cats have gone astray in different parts of Uttar Pradesh. State and central forest officials are on the tiger trail but with little success. The cats have already killed two men.
Experts from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Trust of India, an NGO, too are looking for the missing cats. “A tiger straying from its habitat is not rare. But it’s alarming when this happens in quick succession,” NTCA member-secretary Rajesh Gopal said.
One of the tigers strayed from the jungles of Pilibhit on November 9 and has since trekked over 350 km to reach Barabanki, near Lucknow. Another tiger has been roaming the jungles near Faizabad and Sultanpur districts. A third tiger moved from Bihar’s Kaimur forest to Ghazipur in east UP. Even as four elephant-mounted teams were hunting for the tiger near Barabanki, reports of two more tigers figuring had the forest brass virtually tearing their hair. The department lacks tiger experts and equipment to tranquilise and trap the big cats.
When the tiger in Lucknow’s suburbs killed a second man, forest officials decided to shoot it down. Timely intervention by the NTCA saved the day and it has now been decided that the cat would be tranquilised and trapped.
“These tigers are behaving abnormally because of the ruckus by villagers,” says PP Singh, deputy director, Dudhwa National Park. “They beat utensils and burst crackers making the tiger run amok,” he said. The officials are on tenterhooks as the tigers have now started attacking people. “We want to catch them alive and we should be able to do that soon,” said chief wildlife warden Mahendra Singh.
