Forest dept. steps up effort to capture tiger from Vandiperiyar plantations

The Forest department has launched an extensive operation to capture a five-year-old tiger which has been troubling residents of the plantation villages of Vandiperiyar here for the past two months. According to department officials, the tiger was captured in Munnar and released into the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in April. However, the animal ventured into human habitations in Thankamala, near Vandiperiyar. The tiger’s presence has since been noted in Thankamala, Arnakkal, Granby, and Hillash, where it has attacked cattle and terrorised workers.

On Wednesday, two cows came under attack at Hillash in Arnakkal; one was killed, and another seriously injured. Department officials say the attacker could be a tiger or a leopard. Last week, a leopard had been captured from Granby. “The department has begun an operation to track the animal, with plans to either trap it in a cage or tranquillize it. However, the wild bushes in the abandoned tea plantations are posing a hurdle to our operations,” said Kottayam Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Praful Agrawal.

Central Travancore Planters Association (CTPA) president Thomas Mathew said efforts were already on to clear the overgrown bushes in the plantations. “The tiger initially camped in an abandoned area of the Bethel plantations, which we have now mostly cleared. Now, the animal is apparently in the Arnakkal estate, owned by AVT, where there are no desolate spots,” Mr. Mathew said.

In tea plantations

“The tiger released into the PTR had previously lived in the tea plantations of Munnar. Hence, it should be familiar with tea plantations. The department released the animal into the forest, but it returned to the tea plantations. This was a major mistake on the part of the Forest department. Notably, the tiger has never entered the coffee or cardamom plantations in Vandiperiyar,” Mr. Mathew added.

Peerumade MLA Cyriac Thomas said he had already demanded that once the big cat is captured, it should not be released back into the forest but instead shifted to a zoo. “It lived in tea plantations, and its primary prey was cattle. If it is released back into the forest, it will just return to human habitations once again.”