COIMBATORE: The Nilgiri Forest Department personnel continued the combing operation to capture the tiger officially known as MDT-23 for the 13th day at Singara Forest Range in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Thursday.
Forest officials claimed they have not spotted the tiger in the last two days of the search. Field Director of MTR D Venkatesh said, “We are trying to find the tiger, which has gone into the deep forest from the estate area. However, we have not spotted the tiger in the last two days. Pugmarks were found at two places in the Singara Forest Range on Thursday.”
He added, “We have been working restlessly for the last seven days. As the area is dense forest, we are unable to use drones to find the tiger. We have been carrying out the monitoring process by setting up three temporary lofts in the area. After the tiger attacked a tribal man on October 1, it has not come out. We expect the animal to venture out soon.”
Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj during his press address at Singara Range, said, “We have increased the number of camera traps from six to 20. A total of 50 people are engaged in the operation and are split into teams of six to eight. We are searching in every 300-metre circle. Also, as we predict the tiger to come close to human habitats, teams have been deputed to monitor the areas,” he added.