Prowling tiger caught in trap in Wayanad

Male tiger captured in Wayanad after causing panic by killing domestic animals, now under medical observation.

A male tiger that triggered panic among local residents in the Pulppally area under the Chethalayath forest range in the South Wayanad forest division was captured from a human settlement on Monday.

The big cat, aged about 7 years, had triggered panic for the past two months after it killed many domestic animals. Its capture has come as a relief to the villagers.

A forest team, led by Chethalayath range officer Abdul Samad, set up a trap at Vadanakkavala, near Pulppally, and the animal entered it on Monday morning.

The officials had set up three cages at different parts of the area to capture the animal and had installed more than 20 surveillance cameras to monitor its movements.

The predator was shifted to the animal hospice and palliative care unit for big cats at Sulthan Bathery. Later, it was examined by a team of veterinary experts led by veterinary surgeon Ajesh Mohandas. The animal is not fit to be released into the wild as it has lost all of its canine teeth, Forest department sources said. Though no external injuries were found on it, the health condition of the animal could be ascertained only after a 24-hour medical observation. The loss of its canine teeth might be the reason for it lifting the domestic animals from human habitat, the sources said.

The animal is identified as WWL-127, a resident of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, home to more than half the number of tigers in the State.

Earlier the tiger was spotted in the adjacent Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka in 2020-21 and it was identified as 21MTK -15, a resident in the national park.