ADILABAD: A tiger caught in the floods which recently crossed the river Pranahita at Aheri village of Gadchoroli district of bordering Maharashtra and entered into Kotapalli mandal of Mancherial district and panicked the villagers by killing the cattle.
Forest officials say that the tiger was unable to return to its original habitat due to floods and overflowing rivers Pranahita and the Godavari and facing life threat, and added that they found that the tiger was struggling to cross the rivers but could not due to overflowing with flood water.
The forest officials of the Mancherial district are worried a lot over the safety and security of the migrated tiger that is caught in the floods and roaming in the villages.
The said tiger was coming close to the villages and killing the cattle that entered the nearby forest for grazing.
Animal trackers are tracking the tiger's movements to ensure the safety to the said tiger and alerted the people of a few villages where tiger movement was found and found its pug marks.
The streams and rivulets are flowing high with flood water and people are using country-made boats for transportation and shifting essential commodities in the flood-affected areas in Kotapalli mandals in Mancherial district.
The forest officials found a carcass of a cow in the forests on the outskirts of Edulabandham in Kotapalli mandal on Saturday. People of Arjunagutta, Annaram, Lingannapet, Edulabandham, Parpalli, Edagatta, and Esanvai villages are panicked with the tiger movement and with the incidents of cattle kills in Kotapalli mandal.
Cattle grazers and villagers are not entering forests with the fear of tiger attacks and farmers also not going to their agricultural fields located on verge of forests.
The owner of the cow Edula Satish of Edulabandham village said his cattle were missing for two days and found its carcass in the forests near Edulabandham village and added that people of the area are panicked with the incidents of cattle kills in the last 10 days.
He said he was unable to return to its original habitat in Maharashtra due to overflowing Pranahitha and Godavari and flood water and backwater of Pranahita river inundated many villages in Kotapalli mandal.
The tiger movements were also found on the outskirts of the Nagampet, Venchapalli, Edagatta, and Bopparam villages that are on the fringes of forests in the Kotapalli Forest Range. The tiger killed two cattle in two days on the outskirts of the Edagatta village in Kotapalli mandal in the first week of August.
