A tiger that killed a farmer near a village in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh two days ago was finally captured after a 10-hour-long operation involving more than 100 personnel on Monday, forest department officials said.
The big cat was later dispatched to the Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) in Narmadapuram district of the state. The tiger will be kept in the Churna forest area of STR, where it will be examined to determine what caused its aggressive behaviour, they added.
On early Saturday, the tiger killed a farmer near a village in Balaghat district and its movement was continuously being reported in surrounding areas, which had spread panic and anger among local residents.
The victim, Prakash Pane, was working on his farm under the Tirodi police station area when the big cat attacked him at around 5 am. The wild beast had been wandering around Kundwa village, around 80km from the district headquarters, where he killed the farmer, said the officials.
Before the big cat killed the farmer, villagers had complained to the forest department about its presence, they said.
On Monday, the forest department launched an operation to capture the tiger and trapped the wild cat after 10 hours of efforts. Local MLA Gaurav Pardhi was present throughout the operation.
The rescue operation involved more than 100 personnel, including Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Gaurav Chaudhary, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Adhar Gupta, other forest and police officers.
CCF Chaudhary said the tiger was first spotted near a water stream in the morning, but rescue wasn't possible there.
So, they waited for the tiger to move towards agriculture fields and when it did, Sandeep Agrawal, a wildlife veterinarian at the Kanha Tiger Reserve, tranquilized the big cat, he added.
The striped animal was safely rescued and transported to the Satpura reserve with the help of rescue vehicles from the Pench National Park, Chaudhary added.
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