Mananthavady: The tiger, which triggered panic in the Kurukkanmoola area in the Wayanad district of Kerala, remains elusive though an extensive search was carried out in the region and the forest over several days.

A 200-strong team, including the police and the forest personnel, carried out a search even on Sunday. The tiger could not be captured even though senior forest officers, including five DFOs, have been camping in the area. The chief wildlife warden too had visited the area.

Several posts were put up on social media, claiming that the tiger had been sighted. But the tiger could not be even spotted during Sunday's search as well. Five cages have been set up to capture the tiger but to no avail.

Among the 50 cameras installed by the forest personnel, some had captured the images of the tiger with a wounded neck. But the forest personnel are still groping in the dark, unable to specify where the tiger is.

The forest personnel reckon that the tiger has entered the forest from Kurukkanmoola as its pug marks were found in the forest. The tiger's pugmarks were also found in Kavaripoyil, Kothambatta, Kallatti, and Pandimoola areas the other day. The search for the tiger was carried out in the forest fringes, along the Thirunelly panchayat border, on Sunday. As the tiger has not been spotted, the forest personnel contend that they cannot capture the wild animal by firing tranquiliser shots.

A team, equipped with tranquillizer guns, has arrived from Muthumala in Tamil Nadu. Even if the tiger enters the forest, it has been decided that the forest personnel will continue the search in the area.

Villagers gear up for protests

Villagers are gearing up for protests over the failure to capture the tiger even after three weeks and as no compensation has been given to the farmers whose 17 domestic animals were killed by the tiger.

Earlier, the local people had laid siege to the DFO's office for an entire day with the carcass of a cow, which was killed by the tiger. The Mananthavady-Mysuru state highway was also blocked. The villagers say that they will have to start similar agitations.

The farmers' outfits are also gearing up for joint protest as the tiger menace has not been resolved yet. Leaders of various farmers' outfits had visited the areas gripped with fear and held talks with the villagers.

Tiger menace: UDF relay satyagraha

The UDF Assembly constituency committee has decided to start a relay satyagraha from Monday, seeking urgent steps to safeguard the public and their domestic animals from the tiger's attack. The satyagraha will be held at the Gandhi Park.

The committee said that reasonable compensation should be given to the owners of the domestic animals. The delay in giving compensation to the farmers should also be avoided. The government has completely failed to give protection to the public and their assets from the threat of wild animals. Though people in the Payyambli village have been living in fear for the past three weeks, authorities have not taken the necessary steps. The forest department has not been able to give proper compensation for the domestic animals killed by the tiger. Though coffee and paddy are ripe for harvest, it is not being done as the farmers and the labourers are frightened. The meet decided to continue with the agitation until the problem is resolved.

N D Appachan, P K Jayalakshmi, N K Varghese, Padayan Mohammed, Kadavath Mohammed, C K Rathnavally, P V S Moosa, Jacob Sebastian, P V George and A M Nishanth spoke during the meet.