Rehmankheda tiger: Two weeks on, forest staff still chasing pugmarks

The tiger in Rehmankheda is still making forest staff chase its pugmarks even as two weeks have passed since the wild cat was first reported on December 12. Its latest and supposed to be the fifth kill was reportedly a cow in village Budhariya on Saturday.

“With two watch towers and dedicated teams with tranquilizer guns, and separate teams on the ground we are keeping a close watch upon its movement with the help of pugmarks and reported sighting,” said divisional forest officer Sitanshu Pandey.

The strategy right now is to allow tiger to either return or get trapped in the cages kept on the route it is taking in search of food. Also, baits have been strategically placed in the open with tranqualising teams deployed nearby.

Forest teams are locating the wild animal in two locations. Apart from Rehmankheda, a leopard sighting was also reported from Guru Gobind Singh Sports college in Gudamba. The principal had sent an SoS to forest department.

The tiger was spotted in and around Rehmankheda village, which is about 20 kilometres from Lucknow. First the locals reported about spotting the tiger and its pugmarks in the area. The tiger was also seen on a trap camera near the Central Institute for Sub Tropical Horticulture.

Asked if additional measures such as increase in number of teams were being made, the forest officer said, “We are first planning to make way for tiger to return by stopping it to enter city areas. Since past 24 hours the tiger has not been sighted inside the central institute campus. To give it an exit to forest, we are keeping less footfall towards forest area while strict monitoring is being done in areas with human habitat.”

Asked if an elephant were to be brought he said, “We are thinking but not yet decided.”

Apart from forest department, experts from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and from the Lucknow and Kanpur zoos are part of the rescue operation. The forest department also asked villagers to avoid going out alone at night or leaving home at night, even in groups.

The teams that have been trying to locate the leopard in and around the sports college have not got any sighting since past two days. “No leopard was sighted near the sports college till now. We are still keeping watch and have taken feedback from the locals in the area and asked them to stay alert,” said Sitanshu Pandey.

We plan to tranqualise as the tiger seems to have localised itself, said Pandey. Tranquilising experts sit at the watch tower early morning after 4 am the time tiger is supposed to come to kill a prey. The baits are removed after 9 pm as tranqualising is not allowed at night.

“Tranquiliser will be used at appropriate time,” said Pandey. Thermal drone, camera trap images are being scanned frequently.