Tiger seen near Kollapur in Nagarkurnool district

Hyderabad: The sighting of a tiger in the forests near Kollapur of Nagarkurnool district has set off a buzz in the state forest department that there could be a few more tigers in the Amrabad reserve than previously estimated.

The tiger was spotted by some fishermen along a tributary of the Krishna river on Monday in the Amaragiri forest area near Kollapur town.

 “We believe there could be a tigress with a cub in the area but we are yet to determine if the tiger seen by the river is the same,” said Mohan Chandra Pargaein, chief wildlife Warden and principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife).

“The latest sighting of the tiger outside the reserve shows that the animals are moving into newer areas, which can also be an indication that their numbers are increasing,” he added.

While the National Tiger Conservation Authority in its 2022 census report released in April had said that the Amrabad reserve had 21 tigers, there could be a few more moving outside this protected area.

“We have set up multiple camera traps in the Amaragiri area to monitor the movement of the tiger. On the one side of the river is the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh and this new area in Kollapur had some reports of presence of a tiger,” Rohit Gopidi, district forest officer, Nagarkurnool, and a senior officer of the tiger reserve said.