Angry villagers enter Ooty jungles with weapons to trap 'tiger'

Udhagamandalam: Irked over failure of the district administration and forest department to catch the man-eater, which killed three people, over 1,000 villagers on Wednesday entered the jungle with weapons and joined combing operations.

After reports that the movement of the animal was recorded in a camera and also a pig was dragged away by it, villagers of Kappachi gathered with sickle and wooden logs and ventured into the jungle to trap the tiger, police said.

People of nearby villages like Kundachappai, Dummanhatti, also joined them in the combing operations, along with the personnel from forest department, snipers and special task force, they said.

The livelihood of people in eight villages has been hit for the last 15 days, due to the futile attempts by forest department to catch it, since they could not go for work in tea estates, spread over 5,000 acres as the tiger was on the prowl, villagers said.

Villagers said they entered the jungle to trap or eliminate the animal as the fortnight-long efforts by authorities to capture it have been in vain.

PTI