`Tiger Zinda Hai': `Operation Cage' launched to trap big cat at Anakapalli

Visakhapatnam: Forest department has launched an `operation cage' to capture the tiger which has struck terror in the Anakapalle district for the last one week. The big cat killed a calf at Baulawada village on Sunday morning. The incident created panic in the area. Sensing trouble, forest department kept a cage on the outskirts of the Baulawada to trap the tiger.

Forest officials said the tiger killed a calf at Vissannapeta under Kasimkota Mandal in the Anakapalle district a few days ago. Two camera traps captured the movement of the animal near the calf carcass. Officials said t is a four-year-old male tiger. Forest Section Officer, Pendurthi, G Rama Rao said they have received information that the tiger has killed a calf at Baulwada in the wee hours of Sunday.

"Our teams visited the spot and found pugmarks. We have alerted people living within a 5 km radius of Baulawada. We have informed them about the precautions to be taken," he added. The tiger was first spotted in the East Godavari district. Later it crossed Peddapalle, Yelamanchili, Kotauratla and Kasimkota to reach Anakapalle Mandal. "We have set up a cage at the outskirts of Baulawada on Sunday evening to trap the big cat," Rao added.

Forest officials said that the cage's gate would work automatically. "Once the tiger enters the cage, the door would be closed," they said.

Officials said due to the heavy rains, they could not track the tiger's movement on Friday and Saturday as pug marks were washed away. "We strongly believe that the tiger might have been roaming in Baulawada. It may have come again for the same location, where it left the corpse of the calf," the forest officials added.