A tiger has been giving sleepless nights to the residents of Dattirajeru and Merakamudidam mandals in Vizianagaram district since the last few days.
The animal’s footprints were identified at Ingilapalli village near Dattirajeru on Thursday morning, the officials said.
“We urge the Forest Department to catch the tiger as early as possible. We are scared even to move around in our villages,” said S. Suresh, a resident of Manapuram village near Dattirajeru.
The tiger has already killed several cows and it is moving 8 km to 10 km per day in search of food. Pictures of the tiger was captured by camera trap installed by the forest officials near Puligommi village, where the tiger killed a cow. Earlier, the tiger also killed another cow at Palteru village in the Bobbili-Badangi forest range.
The forest officials said the tiger had moved from Alajangi-Piridi villages towards Merakamudidam mandal. Vizianagaram District Forest Officer S. Venkatesh said that the footage of the camera traps had been sent to the wildlife institute in Guntur for analysis.
“We have advised people not to move in isolated and forest areas in the night. They need to be vigilant during the day time too as there is a possibility of a sudden attack by the tiger. We have requested the residents not to cause any harm to the animal and alert us if they see it prowling in their localities,” he added.
