VISAKHAPATNAM: The Tiger which was believed to have strayed into Payakaraopeta mandal in Anakapalle district from Tuni remained elusive. The tiger, which attacked a buffalo at Srirampura village of T Jaggapet panchayat in Kotauratla mandal, is reportedly moving towards Peddapalli reserve forest in Yelamanchili mandal from Ramachandrapuram in Kotauratla mandal.
However, the forest officials are yet to confirm the direction of movement of the big cat as rains are hampering identification of pug marks. Speaking to TNIE, Visakhapatnam District Forest Officer Anant Shankar said forest teams were monitoring the situation and they didn’t find any pug marks on Friday.
Owing to rains, the pug marks might have been washed away. There were also no fresh visuals from trap cameras, he said.
“We have identified likely routes of the tiger movement and teams are patrolling the area. Our teams are checking for the pug marks along the open tracks and also monitoring near water bodies,” the DFO said.
Forest rescue teams and tiger monitoring teams are deployed in the area.
They are holding awareness meetings in villages with the support of sarpanches. He said they asked people to remain alert. People were told to inform forest officials if they saw the tiger and not to cause any harm to it. He said there was no direct sighting of the tiger. Further tracking of movement of the tiger will be possible with the help of pug marks. Officials are hopeful of getting something in that direction.