Tiger strays into Bhopal institute, caught and shifted to national park

Forest authorities were set to begin rescue operations more than six hours after the big cat was first spotted around 5.45 am.

A tiger spotted on the premises of the Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering on the outskirts of Bhopal on Thursday. (PTI Photo)
A tiger was captured from the campus of the Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering (CIAE) in Bhopal on Thursday and shifted to the Van Vihar National Park. The incident raised concerns as Nabi Baugh is a highly-populated area. Sitting on the roof of a quarter, the tiger jumped onto a shed and the roof caved in. The rescue operation took hours and the big cat was tranquilised and shifted to the national park around 3 pm.

The tiger will be monitored for the next 24 hours and the decision to shift it to a tiger reserve will be taken after that, forest officer A K Singh said. The authorities had been focusing on Kaliasot and Kerwa localities where at least two tigers have been sighted  recently.

Several people sighted the tigers in the area that connects to the Ratapani Tiger Reserve. In fact, tigers have been seen less that 10 km from New Market, the heart of Bhopal town, over the last few years.

Following Thursday’s incident, the forest authorities were alarmed over the entry of the tiger from a totally  unexpected direction and have decided to capture the tigers in Kerwa and Kaliasot. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Narendra Kumar told The Indian Express that the forest department will begin the process from Friday itself. “It’s a hilly area and we will have to use elephants to track and tranquilise the tigers,’’ he said.

The big cats from the outskirts of Bhopal will be shifted to other tiger reserves after they are captured. Wildlife experts said there are several tigers around Kerwa and Kaliasot localities. The Ratapani sanctuary has not been notified yet. The forest authorities believe the tiger captured on Thursday came from Raisen or Vidisha and must have covered a long distance to reach the outskirts of Bhopal.

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