Tiger movements reported from Peddapalli region

KARIMNAGAR: Tiger movement reported from the forests of Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Peddapalli districts in recent months, creating panic among villagers in the catchment areas of rivers Godavari and Manair in North Telangana region.

The movement was first noticed in the tiger zone in Mancherial district and reported later from Peddampeta, Dharmaram and Kothur. The tiger was spotted on Wednesday morning at Dastagiripally village in Peddapalli mandal.

Around 45 days ago, the inhabitants of the villages along the borders of Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Mulugu districts found the carcass of a half-eaten cow in the fields near Tammetigudem, in the forest region of Palimela mandal.

Tiger movements were noticed in recent weeks at the Jammala Banda in Nacharam mandal. Two weeks ago, the tiger was spotted crossing the road near Pedda Guttala area on the outskirts of Mallaram village in Malhar mandal.

Villagers also noticed the tiger heading for Yadlapalli forest region by crossing the Manair river and onto the forest region of Manthani mandal in Peddapalli district.

Farmers Vinod Kumar, Komuraiah, Sagara, Sadaiah and Srinivas Reddy said they noticed tiger footprints in their fields and alerted the forest officials.

District forest officer Shivaiah, accompanied by animal tracker teams of the department went to the spot and confirmed that the footprints were of the same tiger.

He said since the journey of the tiger was towards Hussainmiya Wagu, the people in the surrounding villages must remain alert and should take necessary precautions to protect themselves from likely attacks. “The people in the region must avoid venturing out of their homes for grazing cattle, goats and sheep or to carry out agricultural operations for a few days until the tiger moves away,” he said.