Wayanad: The tiger that killed a dairy farmer at Moodakkolly in Sulthan Bathery on December 9 has been identified as WWL 45, a male aged 13, listed in the Forest Department's census as a resident of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
Identifying the animal was important as it would help the Forest Department to prepare a strategy to either catch or to kill it.
As repeated attempts to trap the animal with preys in cages failed on Wednesday night as well, it was decided to use tranquillizing shots.
Darting expert, Dr Arun Zachariah, who had recently gone back to his parent department, the Department of Animal Husbandry, joined a team, of veterinarians on the mission, on Thursday. Sharpshooters are also on standby with metal bullets to kill the animal if needed.
Chief Conservator of Forests (Northern Circle) KS Deepa, Wayanad Wildlife Warden Dinesh Kumar and South Wayanad DFO Shajna Karim are monitoring the ground-level operations.
Kumki elephants to assist
More than hundred personnel on the mission to trap/kill the tiger will be assisted by Kumki elephants, Vikram and Bharath, from Muthanga. They joined the search operations at Koodallur Thursday afternoon. It is expected that the presence of the kumki elephants would force the tiger to come out of its hiding spot.
A source in the Forest Department told Onmanorama that the tiger was still roaming the region. A domestic animal that had been tied up was killed by the tiger on Wednesday. The identity of the tiger was revealed from camera traps set near the domestic animal.
According to officials, the tiger is aged and might have been expelled from its territory by male counterparts. Tigers live upto 15 years in the wild and younger ones are known to fight the older big cats to assert their supremacy over the territory.
Even though WWL 45 seems to be healthy, it might be suffering from injuries that prevent it from hunting in the wild, the officials said.
'Orders issued to kill the animal'
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Minister for Forest and Wildlife AK Saseendran said that an order to shoot the animal has been issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden.
The minister has urged the people of the locality to cooperate with the forest department personnel to facilitate the mission.
