Tiger kills 3 more cows in Wayanad; Protesting farmers block highway with carcass

Sulthan Bathery: As cattle hunting of a tiger continued unabated with three more cows killed in the Edakkad-Manthadam area on Saturday night, the irate farmers took to the streets with the carcass of the killed animal at Kenichira, near here. The farmers staged the protest by blocking the Sulthan Bathery- Mananthavadi road on Sunday morning.

Among the three cows killed, two are owned by Maliyakkal Benny and another one is owned by Kizhakkel Sabu, another farmer in the locality. At first, the tiger killed Sabu's cow around 10 on Saturday night and later attacked Benny's two cows by 3 am on Sunday. The tiger returned to the spot again and attacked a shed of goats.

The panic-stricken farmers and people decided to protest after the forest department's efforts to capture the tiger went in vain. The protests including women are laying a siege on the highway demanding immediate capture of the problem tiger. They fear that the animal would attack human beings at any moment. Since the visuals of the tiger taking away the kill were circulated on social media on Saturday, the region has been under the grip of fear for the last two days.

Fear grips the agrarian region
A total of four cows have been killed by the same tiger in the Edakkad-Manthadam area so far. Though the forest department had set up a trap at the farmland of Thekkepunnappillil Varghese at Edakkad, the animal has been evading the trap and continues its hunting in nearby zones. The recurring incidents of cattle lifting have triggered panic as well as fury among the local populace forcing them to take to the streets as there was no proper action so far.

Palakkad Divisional Forest Officer B Ranjith who is in charge of South Wayanad Forest Division,  reached the district on Saturday night itself and is participating in discussions with the residents here, assuring them of quick action and persuading them to call off the agitation.

Action Council leader AV Jayan told Onmanorama that the agitation will continue till they get assurance from the top officials and forest minister regarding the immediate capture of the animal. 
“Even a technical committee with the participation of the people is yet to be constituted and the DFO in charge of the division reached the spot only today”, he said.

The problem faced by the forest department of the South Wayanad Forest Division is the absence of trained leadership in such grave situations. The problem zone is under the Chethalayam range where the Range Officer entered on leave to attend a departmental training programme.  Earlier,  former South Wayanad DFO A Shajna who was in charge of coordinating the Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) was transferred to the Social Forestry Division at Kasargod in connection with the Sugandhagiri tree felling case.

Tiger will be captured soon, Forest Minister A K Saseendran
Meanwhile, District Collector Dr Renu Raj in a press statement said that Forest Minister A K Saseendran had informed that directions were already given to the higher forest officials to take immediate steps to capture the problem animal that spread terror in the locality.  

"If failed to trap the animal, measures would be taken to capture it, giving tranquillizing shots", she said. Directions were already given by the office of the minister to the Chief Wildlife Warden to complete procedural measures for capturing the animal, she said.