Kheri villagers sight another tiger, official says no big cat in area

SHAHJAHANPUR: There seems to be no respite from tigers for the terror striken people of Chedipur and nearby villages adjacent to Mailani range of forests in Kheri district. Four days after a tiger that had killed five humans since July 8 was finally tranquilised by the wildlife experts, another tiger was sighted by the people of Chedipur. More sightings were reported from Nihalpur village, near Khuthar range of forest, in adjoining Shahjahanpur district.
Forest ranger Mailani, DS Yadav, Mailani,said he visited Chedipur and adjoining villages but found no sign of any big cat. Villagers claimed no official had visited them.
Bhagwaandeen, former village head of Chedipur village, told TOI, “Many of us saw a tiger near our village for two consecutive days. Fortunately, it did not attack anybody. We had informed the forest department but nobody arrived at the village. The last time, forest department took too much of time to react and we lost many lives. I hope they will take our complaints seriously.”
A forest official who did not wish to be named said it was not surprising that big cats were straying into human habitation as there was an acute shortage of herbivores, their natural prey, in Mailani and Khuthar range of forests. That is why, he said, the carnivores stray in adjacent villages in search of food.
Yadav denied the possibility of tiger straying into the village. He said, “I have visited the villages but there were no signs of tiger there. I believe that fear of tiger has caught the people’s imagination and they probably see every animal, even a hyena, as tiger. We are still monitoring the villages closely.”