VIZIANAGARAM: Fear gripped Vizianagaram after the presence of tiger was found in two separate incidents held at least 100 km away on Thursday, raising doubts that there might be two big cats. Parvathipuram range forest officials identified fresh pug marks of a tiger near Gollapalli village in Bobbili municipality limits on Thursday morning. After a few hours, a tiger attacked a cow near Gulivindada village in Kottavalasa mandal of Vizianagaram that comes under Ellippi forest range of Visakhapatnam district.Now, the forest officials presumed that two tigers are roaming around the district as there is no chance of the tiger going to Kottavalasa from Bobbili in just a few hours.
Pug marks in Bobbili
A few residents of Gollapalli in Bobbili municipality limits identified pug marks near a water tank. Parvathipuram range forest officials reached the spot along with municipal officials and recorded the pug marks.
They said the pug marks matched with that of the tiger, which has been roaming around in the district for the last 3-4 months. They sounded high alert in the surrounding villages with the help of municipal and police officials.The forest officials suspect that the tiger might be hiding in thick bushes near the water tank as there is no dense forest near Gollapalli.
Attack in Kottavalasa
After a few hours, a tiger attacked a cow near Gulivindada village in Kottavalasa mandal on Thursday afternoon. The tiger escaped after the cattle grazers raised an alarm. Vizianagaram range forest officials reached the spot and examined the injured cow. Earlier, forest officials thought the tiger, which has been roaming around Vizianagaram to East Godavari district, is one and the same. However, the two separate incidents in a single day confused the forest officials.
P Trinadha Rao, Parvathipuram range forest officer, said, “We have identified fresh pug marks at Gollapalli and Alajangi villages in Bobbili mandal. The pug marks are matched with those found near Puligommi village in Merakamudidam mandal.” Vizianagaram range forest officer Appalaraju said, “A tiger attacked a cow near Gulivindada. As per the direction of pug marks, the tiger might have gone to Visakhapatnam forest. It is very difficult for the tiger to travel from Bobbili to Kottavalasa in a single day.”He said the forest officials are continuously monitoring the movement of the tiger.