ONGOLE: Ardhaveedu villagers residing on the fringes of the Nallamalla forest range in the Prakasam district are in a state of fear as a tiger is on the prowl.
The big cat killed two cows, an oxen and a deer in the villages of Maaguturu, Lakshmipuram, Kakarla and others on the fringes of the Nallamalla forest in the past 10 days. The recent killing of a cow took place in Velgalapaya village in Ardhaveedu mandal limits. Following this, the village heads informed the forest officials about the possibility of a big cat on the prowl.
Though the forest officials initially suspected that a leopard might be on the prowl, the pug marks they found made them suspect that it could be a tiger instead. The forest officials fixed a trap camera in Maaguturu village near the carcass of a cow, which was killed by a wild animal. The movement of a tiger was captured in the camera.
This made the forest officials suspect that the cattle killed in Velagalapaya could be by the tiger. Going by the measurements of the pug marks found near the carcass, the officials found that the big cat had killed cattle in the village.
FOREST DEPT SOUNDS ALERT
“We have asked the villagers to be on high alert & inform us so that we take preventive measures,’’ said Prasad Reddy, Divisional Range Forest Officer, Nagulavaram section