Car damage not due to tiger attack, clarifies DFO

Nellore: District Forest Officer (DFO) Avula Chandrasekhar has said that there was no truth in the news reports that a car was damaged after it was attacked by a tiger at Kadirinaidu Palle village in Marripadu mandal on Monday.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the DFO said that the preliminary enquiry over the incident has been completed. The car was not damaged due to an attack by a tiger.

The DFO pointed out that the bumper of the vehicle was bent up to 13 centimetres and this cannot happen in an attack on the vehicle by any wild animal.

He also said that if the wild animal hit the car, then blood stains of the animal will be found at the spot. However, there was no such proof.

He opined that the car could have been damaged after the driver hit the divider on the national highway.

However, the DFO said that some hair was found in the clay and pug marks were noticed at the spot and they had been sent for tests.

He said that the forest department has launched combing operation by deploying four teams along with drone cameras to locate the whereabouts of the wild animal. He appealed to the people especially shepherds not to venture into the forest till the case comes to a conclusion.