Kerala Forest Dept captures 'man-eater' tiger, locals want it killed

Days after a tiger attacked and killed a 36-year-old man in Vakeri near here, the animal was captured by the Forest Department on Monday in a trap set up near a local settlement here.

Following it, the locals demanded that the animal be shot and killed instead of being taken to a rehabilitation centre.

Even after several hours of its capture, the forest department was unable to transport the tiger to a nearby rehabilitation centre due to the protests by the locals seeking to shoot the caged animal.

Their anger stems from the suspicion that the 'man-eater' tiger killed Vakeri resident Prajeesh, who's half-eaten body was found near a forest area here on December 9 when he went to collect grass for his cattle. As Prajeesh did not return even after several hours, his brother went searching for him and found the body in a nearby forest area.

A senior forest official said the tiger, which was captured on Monday afternoon, is over 10 years old and has an injury mark on its face.

''It seems like there is a younger tiger in the locality which might have forced this one out of its territory, pushing it to venture into human settlements,'' the official said.

Meanwhile, the locals, led by politicians including MLA I C Balakrishnan laid siege to the road and prevented the forest officials from taking the captured tiger to a nearby rehabilitation centre. Many locals were seen talking to the television channels demanding to kill the tiger instead of taking it away.

''We want that tiger to be killed. We cannot let them (officials) leave it back in the forest. We cannot leave our house for our livelihood due to this tiger,'' locals told reporters.

Soon after Prajeesh's body was found, the Forest department had issued orders to kill the animal if it could not be captured or tranquilised.

The December 10 order said that maximum effort should be taken either to cage or tranquilise the animal as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority norms. Forest officials had set up four cages with the rapid response team patrolling the region using drones to track the tiger.