Tiger from Maharashtra tries to find its territory in Telangana

HYDERABAD: A tiger from Maharashtra is trying to get to a territory it can call its own in Telangana. The male tiger which is said to be three-and-a-half-year-old has strayed close to human habitations even when it is struggling to find its way to the jungle.
With forest officials keeping a close watch on its movements, the tiger, which is being called ‘A2’ by the Telangana forest department officials, was spotted on Thursday night in the Srirampur area of Singareni Collieries in Mancherial district.
How and why A2 has got into this unenviable situation in its attempt to find a place for itself in the jungle which it can call its own territory is interesting. Before the tiger came into the Telangana forest area, a group of tigers arrived from Maharashtra and went to their own territories in the Kawal forest reserve in Telangana. “A2 did not come along with them and has somehow lost his way from the jungle,” a forest department official said.
In the last 20 days, the tiger has been caught on camera by workers of Singareni collieries at a couple of places while they were at work. “We have 12 teams tracking the tracking and we exactly know its movements every hour and which way it is headed. Our entire effort is to direct its path into the forest,” field director of Kawal Tiger Reserve, CP Vinod Kumar told TOI on Friday.
Once inside the forest, A2 will have issues of its own that it will have to sort out. Tigers are said to mark out a territory for themselves and other tigers are not allowed into them. “However, female tigers are allowed. We expect that since A2 is male, perhaps a female will also follow it to its territory that it earmarks for itself,” Vinod Kumar said.
The Telangana forest department officials have been extremely protective of A2. Their efforts have borne fruit as so far, neither has the tiger attacked any humans nor have the local population who sighted the tiger tried to harm it. The constant monitoring of the movements of the tiger is also to protect it from poachers.
People in the villages have been informed that they should not venture into the forest areas alone but if they must, they should go in groups. This is not only for their own safety but for also the tiger not to approach them. The villagers who go into the forest areas to gather beedi leaves have specifically been informed that they should not bend. Being on all fours may invite the tiger to attack thinking that it is an animal. The villagers have also been asked not to tie their cattle in their fields but only at their homes. “The idea behind this is that when the tiger does not get anything to prey on and eat, it will move towards where there is vegetation and into the jungle,” a forest official said.
According to the latest information about the tiger, it has so far been moving in a direction away from the jungle but after it was sighted on Thursday day, its movements on Friday morning show that it could be retracing its steps back into the forest but this has to be watched. If it does go, it is expected to enter into the forest through the Kumrambheem Asifabad or Mancherial forest areas.