Gadchiroli Oct. 13 (District correspondent) C -1 tiger that had killed as many as 13 persons from the three districts of Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara was captured by the forest department officials this morning near Wadsa Desaiganj thereby giving relief to the people.
The man eater tiger had created havoc in the three districts and become habitual of attacking humans for the last few years. It had killed 3 persons from Bhandara district, 4 from Chandrapur and 6 from Gadchiroli district. The people in these districts were quite terrorised and were living under the grip of fear because of frequent attacks of the tiger.
In Gadchiroli many political parties had repeatedly raised the issue of this tiger demanding its early catching. The affected villagers also had made agitations for the caging of the tiger.
The forest department had sought the permission from the higher authorities to cage the tiger and it had got the permission very recently. The forest officials had thus started preparations to cage the tiger by making the necessary plans and strategies.
Yesterday itself, the tiger had attacked a cow in the Wadsa Cow Breeding area. The forest officials were keeping an eye on the man eater and prepared a trap accordingly assuming that the beast would revisit the spot. The members of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve (TATR) dug a bunker and hide themselves in a cage after keeping a bait at some distance.
As soon as the tiger reached near the prey, forest officials who were hiding in the bunker tranquilized the tiger and then put it into the cage very tactically. The team included Dr. R. S. Khobragade, Veterinary Officer and Head of RRT, Rakesh Ahuja, Sharp Shooter and others.
Talking to this correspondent Dr. Kishor Mankar, conservator of forest told that we have been trying for capturing the tiger for the past many days and we succeeded in it finally which is a matter of satisfaction for the department. He patted the RRT members for their performance in capturing the beast and told that efforts are also being made to capture another tiger- T- 6.
Dr. Mankar has worked as Dy. Filed Director at world famous Sundarban Tiger Reserve for 3 years and at Tadoba Tiger Reserve for 2 years. His experinec to deal with the situation was useful for capturing the tiger.
Meanwhile Gadchiroli MLA Dr. Deorao Holi and Armori MLA Krishna Gajbhe have congratulated the CF Dr. Mankar for capturing the tiger and expressed satisfaction over the development. Mr. Mahip gupta, Chief conservator of Forest also has congratulated the forest officials for capturing the tiger.
Mr. Dharmaveer Salvitthal, DyCF, Wadsa, Manoj Chavan, Dhananjay Waybhase, Avinash Meshram, Vijay Dhande all ACFs and other staff of the forest department took necessary pains for the successful operation of the plan.
In the meantime, Dr. Mankar and Mr. Salvitthal have appealed the people to avoid going to the forest areas because another tiger also has been moving in the area.
Photo of tiger
