Wayanad: The forest department officials faced the ire of public at Pulpalli on Wednesday after a tiger has been spotted roaming around the area. The public demanded immediate capture of the animal which has been preying on cattle, pigs and deer that enter the farmlands for more than a month.
It was on January 14 that the animal was first seen in the locality. Many schools have remained closed. Students of lower classes are unwilling to to go to school. Around six villages including Alathur, Surabhikavala, Sasimala ,Mullankolly villages in the region are gripped by the tiger scare. St Mary’s Higher Secondary School at Mullankolly, here, declared a holiday on Tuesday.
When the forest department officials visited the spot headed by Forest Range Officer Abdul Samad, to check the cage trap and also to examine the pug marks, the public blocked their vehicle demanding assurance from top officials to tranquilize and capture the animal at the earliest.
"We will not allow the officials to step out till the top officials including the DFO and District Collector come down and assure us of a time frame that the animal would be captured," said Lissy Babu, a resident of the locality. The reason for the sudden surge of protest is the failure of the forest department in capturing the animal after so many days and the absence of any senior official in the meeting which was scheduled to be held today to discuss measures to capture the animal, the residents said.
"The animal is roaming freely in the area and the forest department officials are incapable of tracking and capturing it," she said. However, the officials claimed that they had already placed three cage traps in the village and also fixed live camera traps to identify the tiger on the move. South Wayanad DFO Shajna Karim is busy monitoring 'Operation Belur Makhna' and was not in a position to participate in the meeting today, it was pointed out.
