Chennai: More kumki elephants were brought again from the Theppakadu Elephant Camp for the operation to locate tiger T23 in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR). Sources said search has been expanded to more areas.
More logistics support came in from the neighbouring forest divisions in Kerala and Karnataka on Sunday, with the latter also despatching a trained sniffer dog.
Tamilnadu Chief Wildlife Warden Shekar Kumar Niraj issued an order to hunt ‘T23’, a tiger, which is said to have killed four persons so far, including a 55-year-old man on Friday, in Nilgiris district after concluding that the big cat has ‘become very dangerous’ to human life in the area.
The order was issued after a week-long effort by the Forest Department to catch the tiger alive failed. The Forest Department came under severe pressure from locals after the news of the tiger fatally attacking its fourth target spread like wildfire. Villagers in Masinagudi and Gudalur complain that the tiger has been wreaking havoc in the area.