KAKINADA: Forest officials are making efforts to trap the tiger, which strayed into the human habitat at Kodavali village in Gollaprolu mandal of Kakinada district and moving towards the forest area at Serabavaram.
The big cat attacked two buffaloes on Thursday evening, but they escaped alive with injuries. People in the nearby villages have been advised not to leave their cattle in the open.
Forest department and wildlife conservation teams are preparing to catch the adult male tiger at Serabavaram in Prathipadu mandal. Three cages have been shifted to the place, where the tiger killed a cow. The cow carcass is being used as a bait.
Further, all the 52 trap cameras have also been shifted to the place and fixed at vantage points to trace and track the movements of the tiger.
"We are making every effort to catch the tiger," District Forest Officer IKV Raju said and added that once the big cat is caught, it will be either released into the forest or shifted to a zoological park. The tiger strayed into Prathipadu on May 23 from Narsipatnam forest. On that day, it hunted two buffaloes at Pothuluru village. Later, it reached Vommangi and hunted six buffaloes on May 25.
After that, it moved to the Pushkara Lift Irrigation Canal pump house in Gollaprolu mandal and hunted a buffalo on May 27. Following complaint by locals, forest and wildlife conservation department officials had arranged 40 animal trap cameras to trace the tiger.
Eventually, it was found on May 28.
Since then the forest officials, including DFO IKV Raju, Wildlife DFO Selvam, Yeleswaram sub DFO Sowjanya, Wildlife Ranger Varaprasad and others, are continuously tracking the big cat based on its pug marks. Panchayats of Kodavali, Gollaprolu and Dharmavaram have been put on high alert.
Due to lack of easy prey, the tiger started going towards reserve forest along the Yeleswaram Reservoir canal. After moving 5 km away from Kodavali pump house, it saw a cow heard between Pandavulapalem and Podurupaka villages and hunted one cow on June 1.
As a safety precaution, people have lit torches and kept them around their villages. They think that as wild animals are afraid of fire, the torches could act as a safety barrier.
Meanwhile, TDP leader V Raja, voicing the concern of people in Prathipadu, said with the tiger on the prowl, farmers are unable to go to their fields out of fear. As it is crucial time for starting Kharif operations, he urged the forest officials to catch the big cat at the earliest.