COIMBATORE:A man-eater tiger, which was roaming parts of the Nilgiris district, was on Wednesday shot dead in Gudalur after a five-day hunt. It was the second such incident in the Nilgiris district, as a man-eater was in 2014 killed in Ooty by forest officials.
The tiger was spotted in a private tea estate near Mukkatti by workers and they alerted the forest officials even as teams intensified their search after the animal killed tea picker Mahalakshmi near Gudalur on Saturday. It also attacked a man on the same day at Mukkatti though he escaped with injuries.
Soon after receiving information, the forest officials and Special Task Force (STF) personnel rushed to the tea estate at Perumpalli. The animal was shot dead around 3.30 pm. Collector P Shankar said, “Since attempts to tranquilise the tiger failed and it tried to attack the personnel, they shot it down. Based on available evidence, we confirmed it was the tiger which attacked the woman and man recently.”
Official sources said about 20 rounds were fired and the animal was killed on the spot. A doctors team, led by veterinarians Manokaran and Vijayaragavan, conducted the autopsy on the animal. A source said it was a male animal aged about 8 to 10 and it was 101 cm tall and 244 cm long. However, forest officials refused to comment on the incident. About 120 personnel, including those from the Special Task Force, Armed Reserve and forest officials led by conservator of forest Anwardeen, district forest officer Thejasvi and forest officials from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, were engaged in the search. A five-year-old male tiger had in 2014 killed three persons and created panic in Ooty. It was gunned down on Jan 23, 2014. had to be shot dead.