Even as the panic among villagers is on peak due to back-to-back tiger attacks, the Forest Department has decided to capture the problem tiger which has killed around seven persons in the last six months in the buffer and territorial areas of the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR). As per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) SOP, the Forest Department has constituted a committee to capture the problem tiger. However, wildlife experts believe that capturing the tiger is not the solution and the Department should work beyond this to curb man-animal conflict in the region. The Forest Department is working on the photographs captured by camera traps in the forest area. Forest teams from Chandrapur and Bhandara are also working with Nagpur team for extensive patrolling. “Around 50 camera traps have been installed in the territorial area to monitor the problem tiger. Also, around 60 foresters are doing regular patrolling,” said an officer.

 

Around seven persons were killed in tiger attack in the last six months, in which two incidents took place in buffer area of PTR, and two incidents occurred in Deolapar area. All these four incidents of buffer and Deolapar area took place in just two-and-a-half months. “As per the photographs we are predicting that all the kills were committed by a sub-adult tiger which is frequently venturing in the forest fringes,” said the officer. According to the officer, “PTR Maharashtra is situated over 741.2 sq km area which can cater to around 50 tigers. Whereas, there are around 54 tigers residing in Pench. Excess tigers are venturing out to the territorial areas.”