Food for tigers, sad day for game animals near Kotagiri

Ooty: Foresters have set up camera traps in and around Uyilatti village on Kotagiri slopes in the district to track the movement of tigers, since a male sub-adult, got itself rescued in a 10-hour battle after having been trapped in a snare set up at a farmland in that village on Saturday.

However, initial images showed that game animals' population is good there to sustain tiger life in jungles at Kotagiri sub-urbs.

The villagers at Uyilatti would not have imagined that they would spot a tiger in their village limits.  Even as the movement of a tiger in the village limits has scared the village residents there, from the wildlife angle, the sighting of tiger there has brought cheer. Further, highland tigers have now begin to occupy the serene and undisturbed jungles territories in Kotagiri rural limits.

Forest department sources said that on Saturday evening itself the foresters set up camera traps around the Uyillati village limits to ascertain whether the tiger which rescued itself from the snare was still roaming around the village or any other tiger was moving in the village limits there.  

'The camera trap images which were analyzed on Sunday morning did not show any signs of tiger movement there during Saturday night.  

However, there were images of other animals such as wild boar and 'Sambar' deer that showed that game animals' population is good in Uyilatti limits.  "It appears the tigers from the lower plateau moved up to Uyilatti since the game is good over there," sources added.