Shifted to Chamundi Rehabilitation Centre at Koorgalli near Mysuru

Mysore/Mysuru: A tigress, which was seen with a snare entangled in its neck in Kerala has been trapped in Gundre Range of Bandipur Tiger Reserve this morning. 

Forest Department officials from Kerala were desperately searching for the big cat as it had the snare and would have possibly died due to injuries.

Now the Karnataka Forest Department officials successfully trapped the injured tigress. It fell into a cage at Gundre as the staff had kept meat inside. 

Actually it is illegal to capture a wild tiger within the core forest area. But the Department officials decided to trap it as the snare had endangered its life. 

Also, the tigress had injured three Department staffers in Kerala including a Forest Ranger when they tried to capture it after firing a dart. Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden had issued orders to capture the tigress as it could attack cattle heads or humans along the forest fringes. The feline was reportedly moving frequently across the borders of the two States and was often spotted at Gundre Range. 

The tigress had triggered panic among local residents at Kolavally in Wayanad on the Kerala-Karnataka border. The big cat, aged about seven years, had killed three domestic animals.

It is suspected that the animal had deep neck injuries after it had got stuck in a wire snare. Officials said that the snare injury on its neck had developed into sepsis. The snare was intact on its neck and it could have forced the animal to enter human habitations in search of easy prey, Kerala officials said. As many as 20 camera traps were set up to monitor its movements. The Karnataka Forest officials also deployed Kumki elephants to search for the tiger. Camera trap details of the tigress and that of the big cat that was found in Kerala were analysed. The images were compared with those from Kerala, to confirm whether it is the same animal or not. 

Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director S.R. Natesh told Star of Mysore that the priority was to treat the animal for its injuries. Hence, the tiger is now being shifted to Chamundi Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Koorgalli near Mysuru, he added. 

Hediyala Asst. Conservator of Forest (ACF) Ravikumar, Gundre Range Forest Officer (RFO) Sashi & Wildlife Warden Kruthika Alanahalli have reached Gundre.