Maheshpur, south Kheri: Elusive tiger located; heavy rains interrupt capture operation

Combing teams in the Maheshpur range area, under the south Kheri forest division, located the errant tiger hiding in a sugarcane field near Sarayan river, on Wednesday, but heavy rains forced suspension of the operation.
Divisional forest officer, south Kheri, Sanjay Biswal, said tiger movement was detected in and around the sugarcane fields. He expressed hope that the elusive tiger would soon be captured.
Four teams had been deployed in Maheshpur range, who were combing the area through drone cameras, pugmark detection and intensive patrolling, he said, adding that 40 cameras and four cages had been installed in the affected area to capture the tiger.
Following the permission to tranquilise the big cat, a tranquilising expert team led by Dr Daksha Gangwar was also in the field.
A tiger in Maheshpur range had attacked and killed a 45-year-old man, Ambarish Kumar, of Imaliya village on August 27, when he had gone to his sugarcane fields.
Earlier on August 4, a 13-year old girl, Janki, was killed by a tiger under similar circumstances.
Prior to these incidents, two human casualties – one by a leopard and the other by a jackal- were reported in August under the same south Kheri division area.
Meanwhile, following the 10 human killings in quick succession in neighbouring Bahraich by a pack of wolves brought the man-animal conflict in Kheri into focus.
Awareness campaign
Following strict directives from the government, officials of various departments in Kheri launched a massive awareness campaign on Wednesday.
District cane officer (DCO) Ved Prakash Singh held a meeting with sugar mill officials, members of cane societies and Parishads and asked them to educate villagers in their respective areas about man-animal conflict and precautionary steps to be taken.
Deputy director, Dudhwa buffer zone, Saureesh Sahay, held a meeting with villagers of affected areas and told them the measures to be adopted to avoid conflict with wild animals. He also asked the ‘Bagh Mitras’ (tiger friends) to train and educate villagers about man-animal conflicts.
DFO Biswal, in his interaction with villagers, advised them to be on the alert following the presence of wild animals in their areas.
He advised them to work in groups in their fields while making a loud noise, not to venture out into the reserved forest area and to intimate forest officials in case they apprehended the presence of a wild animal.