Forest wing on toes for Tigress hunt

Bhupalpally: The Forest Department which has been tracking the movement of a tigress that created disturbance among tribal pockets surrounding Nimmagudem thickets is yet to trace out its whereabouts.

Amid speculation that the big cat had entered Peddapally district crossing Manair river, a farmer had seen the tigress near Vencharami village under Chityal mandal in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district on Saturday morning.

Following which, CFO of Warangal Circle MJ Akbar and DFO Purushotham rushed to Vencharami near Tadicherla under Malharrao mandal and inspected the pugmarks.

Jayashankar-Bhupalpally District Forest Officer K Purushotham said, "Since the news of tigress' movement broke, the forest wing is on high alert. We took all precautions to ensure the privacy of the big cat. On Saturday, we found pugmarks of the tigress near Vencharami village. The location is somewhat ideal to stay on for the tigress. So far, we didn't have any information of the big cat crossing the Manair river to enter Peddapally district."

It may be recalled here that the tigress was first spotted at Nimmagudem forest in Pegadapally range under Mahadevpur division in the district on August 30. It had also killed a cow. The forest officials who confirmed the pugmarks alerted the neighbourhood. Since then the forest wing has been trying to track the movement of the tigress.