RAYAGADA: Panic has gripped residents of areas bordering Odisha and Andhra Pradesh after a video of a tiger roaming in a forest at Rayagada’s Gunupur went viral on social media. Rayagada divisional forest officer (DFO) Bijay Parida said the animal is reportedly moving in the Srikakulam area of Andhra Pradesh bordering Gunupur of Rayagada forest division. “As per reports, it was eight to 10 km inside AP from the interstate border on Monday and moved further inside AP today (Tuesday),” he added.
Since the movement of tigers has been observed across borders in the past particularly near Lamataput of Koraput district a few months ago, the present movement is not unusual for the animal, the officer added.“As a precautionary measure, arrangements are being made to deploy protection squads besides installing camera traps to monitor the big cat’s movement. The squad members have also been instructed to carry out awareness campaigns in the bordering areas,” Parida informed.
Forest ranger of Palakonda in Srikakulam district Pradeep Anukonda said, “Acting on the direction of our DFO, we toured Bhamini and Kotturu forest areas of our district and spotted pug marks of a tiger. During verification, it was ascertained that the tiger has been roaming over an area of nearly 40 sq km.”Gunupur deputy ranger Nilamadhab Padhy asked people not to panic as the big cat is in AP. However, an alert has been sounded in the Gunupur area.