Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 10 (IANS) Trenches have been dug up along the boundary of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) to prevent the big cats form moving into human habitation.
The Uttar Pradesh Forest Department has also deployed two elephants and mounted camera traps in the adjoining villages, apart from using drone-mounted cameras to monitor the movement of the tiger that has claimed three human lives in the past one month.
The action comes after local politicians wrote a letter to the district magistrate, urging him to tranquilise the big cat that had ‘turned into a man-eater’.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Anil Patel told reporters that the presence of herbivores like wild boars, Nilgai, and others in the standing sugarcane crop was attracting the increasing numbers of tigers and leopards from the jungle.
The DFO said, “We have urged the farmers to work in groups and play music at high decibels so that the loud sound keeps big cats at bay. Besides, the department has deployed extra teams to keep an eye on the movement of tigers.”
Forest officials have also intensified vigil to ensure nobody enters the forest area. “Our teams are working round-the clock in three shifts,” he said.
The forest officials are also taking the help of Katarniaghat forest team, Wildlife Trust of India and WWF-India to deal with the situation.
It may be recalled that on October 24, Avadhesh Yadav, 32, was mauled to death when he was grazing his cattle near DTR buffer zone in adjoining Majhra Purav village.
Two weeks earlier of Avdesh’s fate, the partially eaten body of 60-year-old Pyarelal was found in the forest area on October 8. According to officials, a tiger killed him in Majhra Purav village and then dragged his body into the forest.
And just days before that, 65-year-old Gyan Singh was killed on October 5, and his partially eaten body was found after two days.
–IANS
amita/in