Forest department on alert as tiger spotted again in Nanjangudu

The temple town of Nanjangudu is currently on high alert following reports from locals about the reappearance of a tiger in the industrial area

The forest department on Friday launched a comprehensive operation to capture a tiger which is believed to have reappeared in a village in Nanjanagudu taluk of Mysuru district, officials familiar with the matter said.

The development comes after the recent incident where the forest department had successfully conducted an operation and captured a male tiger on November 27.

The temple town of Nanjangudu is currently on high alert following reports from locals about the reappearance of a tiger in the industrial area, the officials said, adding that the forest department has urged the public to exercise caution during this period.

The development comes after the recent incident where the forest department had successfully conducted an operation and captured a male tiger on November 27, after it had claimed the life of a woman in the Hediyala range forest on November 24. Now, responding to the claims of reappearance of tiger provided by local villagers, the forest department has mobilised resources to capture tiger that was spotted at night in various locations, including Chikka Kanya, Dodda Kanya, Bathahalli, and Sindhualli, within Nanjangud industrial area.

The situation escalated after a video showing three tigers strolling on the main roads of an area, which appeared to be Nanjangudu industrial area, Tandya, and Beera industrial area of the Adakanahalli region, went viral on social media. Officials of forest department, after investigating the footage, confirmed that the location where the tigers were seen is not the Nanjangudu industrial area.

However, chief conservator of forests for Mysuru circle Malathi Priya emphasised the importance of heeding the public’s concerns and ordered the commencement of an operation to capture the tiger.

“The additional chief conservator of forests for tiger projects [APCCF] Shaswathi Mishra had visited the area in which the tiger was spotted and issued an order on November 29 to capture the big cat,” Priya said.

Further giving details about the operations commenced, she said, it involves a specialised team comprising of 10 personnel from the leopard task force and over 50 personnel from the Mysuru forest department.