Asifabad: Search operation continues to find missing tigers

Kagaznagar: Forest officials continued their search for three tigers missing after suspiciously eating the poisoned carcass of a cattle in the forests of Dharegaon village in Kagaznagar for the second day on Thursday. Led by District Forest Officer Neeraj Kumar Tebriwal, around 120 officials and eight teams of animal trackers from neighboring Mancherial district searched the forest since morning to locate the tigers. The result of the search was not disclosed till 2 pm. Meanwhile, on Thursday, a calf was killed by a tiger in the forests of Ootpalli village in Kaghaznagar mandal. Ootpally is located near the site of two recently reported deaths of tigers. CCTV camera traps were installed at the spot to check whether the tigers were eating the carcass or not. In a related development, four suspects from Dharegaon and Sarkepalli villages of Wanakidi mandal were detained by forest officials. He was also taken to the spot and is being interrogated. The four people were accused of spraying herbicide on the carcasses of cattle to kill the tigers. Within a span of two days, a one-and-a-half-year-old female tiger named S15 and a six-year-old male tiger named S9 were found dead in the forests of Dharegaon village on January 6 and 8 respectively. The cause of death is said to be poison. According to CCTV footage, two cubs and a male tiger ate the carcasses of cattle killed by tigers on December 30 or 31, prompting forest officials to search for the remaining tigers.