Tiger remains elusive, fear grips other pockets

UNNAO (Gadhi Silauli): A fear psychosis has now gripped the residents of Gangauli, Pipri, Kurmin Kheda, Kuwariya Kheda, Hajipur and Sikanderpur, villages bordering Gadhi Silauli in Unnao district. Early on Monday morning, there were rumours in the area that fresh pug marks of the stray tiger have been sighted in a stretch of 3 to 5km of area near Gangauli.Many locals also claimed that they had also seen the pug marks of a blue bull alongwith with the pug marks of the tiger, suggesting that it had chased and killed another antelope.
Though, the forest departments had confirmed the pug marks found in and around Gangauli village, it has not been sighted so far, said sources in the forest department.
The forest and wildlife trust of India officials on Monday got down to track the animal pug marks and with the help of two elephants from Dudhwa National park, combed Gangauli, Pipri, Kurmin Kheda, Kuwariya Kheda, Hajipur and Sikanderpur villages close to Fatuwa Ka Nala jungle area in Gadhi Silauli, where the stray tiger was first sighted by the women-folks on Tuesday last.
Residents in the nearby villages had been advised to not to switch off lights during late night hours as the tiger is known for attacking its prey under the cover of darkness. Tigers do chase its prey and over power it and it comes in their routine. "Covering 2 to 5km of stretch is a very routine thing for the wild beast. But, mostly, it prefer attacking its prey by hiding itself first behind the thick shrubs. Moreover, the local people were also told to cut the thick vegetation around the vicinity of their homes as it could be used by the animal to unleash sudden attack after hiding. Though, no human being has been attacked by the animal so far by the tiger on loose, but it seems to have killed a blue bull as a fresh carcass of the antelope was recovered in the vicinity of these villages," informed Dr Utkarsh Shukla, deputy director Lucknow zoo, and who is supervising the operation since the past four days while talking to TOI.
He said that the tiger could again move out of the forest cover due to huge presence of blue bulls and other small animals in the area. He said that cages and night vision cameras had been placed at strategic points to trap the animal. "It is true that the feline had killed a blue bull after chasing it within a perophery of nearly 5km during late night hours of Sunday near Gangauli village as we have recorded a good number of struggle spots," said another senior forest department official. Blue bulls also wander in night time especially in search of feed, he said.
The pugmarks, detected in Pilibhit, Sitapur and Lucknow, were similar to those detected in Unnao, the official added.
A wildlife expert told TOI that it is almost a known fact that the tiger do not eat its prey at once and it is the habit of the big cat to drag the body to a safer place and eat the body of the prey a day after it was killed as to loosen the flesh from the bones. He said that as it had tasted the flesh of the blue bull on Thursday last and previous night, it will definitely search for more ones.