The Karnataka forest department in Kodagu is planning to install chain link mesh in buffer zones to prevent the entry of tigers into human habitats, officials close to developments said on Thursday.
The move comes after a tiger recently killed two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, at K Badaga village in the Ponnampet forest range limits.
Officials said the villagers residing near the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary are facing hardships owing to the tiger menace for many years.
The Nagarhole tiger reserve has one of the highest tiger densities in the country. As tigers grow old, they are unable to hunt and thus attack domestic animals and humans since it is easy prey, according to forest officials.
On February 12, a tiger attacked Chetan (12), the son of a migrant labourer at Churikadu in K Badaga village. Chetan’s parents migrated from Panchavalli in Hunsur just three months back to a coffee estate owned by N Poonacha. The workers were in the estate when the tiger killed the boy playing in front of the labourer’s quarters provided by the estate owner. On February 13, at 7 am, the tiger attacked 75-year-old Raju in Churikadu village at a coffee estate. The tiger attacked when Raju came out of the house. Both incidents occurred within 500 meters and just a kilometre from the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary buffer zone. After the deaths, the villagers demanded a permanent solution to the wild elephant and tiger menace.
Soon after the killings, villagers in surrounding areas staged a huge protest against forest officials, urging them to shoot the tiger immediately. The forest officials captured the big cat on February 16and sent it to an animal rescue centre in Koorgalli, on the outskirts of Mysuru.
‘’Though we caught a man-eater tiger which killed two in February, the menace has not ended. Two more tigers in the region are killing domestic animals. and villagers are threatening to take up a huge protest,” Kodagu circle chief conservator of forests B N Niranjana Murthy said.
In the wake of this, the department planned to erect a chain link mesh of 12 feet in height from Nanachi gate to Karmadu gate along the Nagarhole tiger reserve. “It will cost ₹30 lakh to ₹40 lakhs per kilometre, and we plan to construct up to 10 kms. As tigers can jump 7-8 feet, 12 feet mesh could prevent them,” Murthy added.
“The villagers surrounding Nagarhole are speaking about killing of tigers as it killing not only their cattle but their livelihood,” wildlife conservationist K M Chinnappa said. “I welcome the move of the forest department as it is essential for the co-existence of tigers and humans,” he added.
“For many years, we are facing elephant menace. Recently, the tiger menace has worsened,” Harish Madappa, a coffee grower in Srimangala, said. “The tigers are killing cattle worth over ₹40,000- ₹50,000. But the department is providing less compensation, that too after six months. The department should take steps to save human lives and cattle from tigers, otherwise, it should permit to kill the tigers,” he added.
