KURNOOL: It is literally a game of wait and watch for forest officials whenever they launch an operation to capture a big cat. Officials at Kakinada, too, are playing the same game to capture the elusive tiger, apparently a young adult male, that has strayed into human habitation in Gollaprolu and killed six buffaloes.
Patience is the winning mantra. The one who becomes impatient first loses the round. Officials, sticking to the tried and tested winning formula, said it might take a minimum of two to three days to capture the carnivore through "Cage Operation".
An atmosphere should be created for luring the tiger to cage where a prey will be offered as bait. The location where the cage is set should be free of human intervention, as any disturbance would keep the animal away.
The officials, however, will be monitoring the cage 24x7, and once the tiger takes the bait, the trap will be operated with a remote control. "We have standard operation procedures to capture and rescue a tiger safely," Chief Conservator of Forests (CFO) P Ramakrishna said.
Explaining the procedures, the official told The New Indian Express that they mostly preferred Cage Operation to trap the straying tigers. "To trap a tiger, a goat has to be kept inside the cage as bait. The goat should be able to move in the cage to attract the tiger. For this, the entrance of the cage should be kept closed instead of tying the goat inside. The goat should be visible from all four sides," the officer explained.
The cage is kept at a location where the tiger was sighted at least two to three days ago. A tiger traverses over 50 hectares and the animal could be spotted more than once at a particular place between 48 and 72 hours.
If it does not come again, it means that the animal has left. Ramakrishna said the cage’s gate would be remotely operated. "Once the tiger comes near its prey, the door would be opened remotely and as soon as it pounces on its prey, the door would be closed,’" he said.
For this, the cage should be continuous watched. Once captured, the animal will be released into the deep forest.Two such operations had been taken up in the State -- one each at Eluru & Anantapur -- & both were successful.