WARANGAL/MAHABUBABAD: The Warangal Forest department has sounded a high alert in the Rudragudem forest area and put its entire staff on notice after pugmarks of a big cat were spotted on the outskirts of Rudragudem village in Nallabelly mandal of the district on Friday.
The villagers who noticed the pugmarks notified the local police and forest officials who rushed to the spot and confirmed that they belonged to a tiger. Nallabelly Forest Range Officer (FRO) P Ravi Kiran told TNIE that the staff identified fresh pugmarks of the tiger and confirmed that it had prowled on the outskirts of Rudragudem village and probably migrated from Mulugu district. It is suspected that the tiger moved towards the Konapur and Ootai forest areas in Kothaguda mandal of Mahabubabad district, he added.
The FRO said that 15 forest staff members were on the field, tracking the movement of the big cat in the forest area. Meanwhile, the surrounding villages have been alerted and residents warned not to venture alone into the forest area. Shepherds too have been told not to go deep into the forest for grazing cattle, he added.
Mahabubabad District Forest Officer (DFO) Vishal Battula told TNIE: “We received information that a tiger is prowling in the Konapur forest area, and the Kothaguda forest staff are in the field to track its movement. We have marked the natural streams inside the forest area where the tiger is likely to come for water. Camera traps have also been set up to capture its movement, and we are intensifying patrolling in the forest areas.”