Karnataka: Another tiger on the prowl in Kodagu

Within 12 hours of the capture and relocation of an injured tigress, believed to have killed two people in Virajpet, another tiger surfaced in the area on Monday, triggering fear and doubt about whether the big cat nabbed on Sunday was indeed the killer predator.
A cattle killing was also reported on Sunday night near T Shettigeri village, where the “man-eater of Kodagu” had killed an estate labourer only in the morning.A search operation has begun with the help of elephants and a cage has been set up.
On Monday morning, the tiger was spotted at Mattur in Ponnampet taluk. First-year PU student Raksha Dechamma, who was on her way to catch a bus to college, saw the big cat and made a dash for it. She ran some distance and fell to the ground, unconscious. Raksha is staying with her uncle in Mattur as there are no higher education facilities in her village of Hermadu. Residents rushed her to her uncle’s house and she was taken to hospital in Gonikoppal, and later Mysuru.
Ponnampet RFO Rachappa visited the hospital and paid Rs 5,000 from his pocket for immediate treatment of the girl and assured the family that further expenses would be taken care of by the forest department.
The appearance of the tiger revived fears among locals who had pressured the forest department to capture the other big cat on Sunday after a teenage boy and a 60-year-old woman were killed within hours of each other. The forest team captured the cat in Manchalli, 3km from the spot where it had attacked the woman, and it has since been moved to Mysuru.
The cattle killing was reported from Tavalageri village, just a kilometre from T Shettigeri. The tiger entered the cowshed of Dekamada Pushpa and killed the cow. Some locals said they saw the tiger entering an estate in the morning. They say the tigress captured on Sunday is not behind the killings and another tiger may be on the prowl.