Tamil Nadu: STF guns down man-eater, two cops injured

Ooty: The elusive tiger at Wood-briar estate near Gudalur, 80 km from here, which reportedly killed an estate worker, was finally gunned down by STF on Saturday evening thus bringing the curtain down on its reign of terror over the last eight days. However, two cops were injured in the cross-firing at the spot.

For the third consecutive year, STF scripted success in bringing down a tiger as it had done in 2014 January at Kappachi, east of Doddabetta and in 2015 at Pattavayal in Pandalur.  

As information of gunning down of the big cat spread, there was joy and a sense of relief in Wood-briar estate environs, dominated by plantation workers. The eight-year-old tiger  struck there on March 12 night and killed Maghu Hora, a farm-hand, resulting in panic in the village.

Describing the event that led to the shooting of the tiger, Tejaswi, District Forest Officer, Gudalur division, said the tiger’s images were recorded in camera traps. It was seen moving amidst the lantenna bushes at Veerappanthottam in Wood-briar estate around 2.45 pm on Saturday by two teams combing the area.

The teams, included STF, armed reserve police and forest personnel. As efforts by foresters to tranquilize and capture it failed and the feline tried to attack the team members,  STF opened fire killing the animal, he added.

“The cut injuries in the left leg of the tiger and wounds on its back showed that it had been grievously injured  either in territorial fight or when trapped in a snare.  Thus it lost its ability to hunt and began to target humans and cattle. It killed one man and a couple of cows in the past one week. The scat analysis showed that it even ate a dog recently.  said . I.Anwardeen, conservator of forests, Coimbatore circle. He said two policemen who suffered bullet injuries during the operation were rushed to Perinthalmanna in neighbouring Kerala for treatment.