The search for a tiger that killed a man at Adakkakundu in the Kalikavu range of Nilambur forest last week continued on the fifth day on Tuesday without much success. More than 50 forest staff, split into three teams, aided by drones and live stream cameras combed the steep terrains of the forest adjoining the buffer areas of the Silent Valley National Park on Tuesday. The search will continue on Wednesday.
“The tiger appears to be elusive. But we will continue our tracking operation until we find it,” said Arun Zachariah, chief wildlife veterinary surgeon who led the search.
According to Dr. Zachariah, the animal appeared to have moved out of the territory where it created fear and shock by fatally attacking Gafoor Ali, 44, while he was tapping in a rubber plantation that he leased at Adakkakundu on Thursday last.
“We found several wild animals, including elephants and gaurs, but the tiger. But we will not go back on our mission, which will continue until the animal is spotted,” said Dr. Zachariah.
The rain partly affected the search on Tuesday. Apart from the 50-odd camera traps set up for the tiger, a few video cameras with live tracking facility on the mobile phones were also set up near the two cages fixed for the tiger.
The tiger had been caught on one of the camera traps set up at the spot where it killed Gafoor on Friday. “We knew it would come at the exact spot where it had a kill. But once we started the search, the animal too began evading us,” said Dr. Zachariah.
A few kumkis have been kept ready for tracking. They will be used only after detecting the presence of the tiger. “What I am trying now is to track the territory of the tiger. We will use the kumkis in the last leg of the tracking process, after spotting its territory,” said Dr. Zachariah.
Kumkis will be needed while darting the tiger. According to experienced forest officers, a tiger will invariably charge at the person who darts. Using kumkis, the darting team can build a good defence against the charging tiger.
Published – May 20, 2025 08:36 pm IST
