GUDALUR: A tiger that killed two men in the O’Valley area of Gudalur in the Nilgiris was trapped in a cage in the early hours of Friday, after a 29-day operation.Following its capture in Silver Cloud Estate near Gudalur, the tiger was taken to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) for verifying whether it was the same one which killed two men in O’Valley in August. Forest department officials used hair samples collected from the scenes of the incidents, besides comparing the images captured by a camera trap, for the verification process. After verification confirmed the animal, the tiger was transported to Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai.The operation began after two coffee plantation workers were killed in separate tiger attacks in the Lauriston area of O’Valley in August. The deaths of M Balakrishnan on Aug 9 and K Ravikumar on Aug 21 triggered an intensive search in the Gudalur forest division and adjoining areas.The forest department initially deployed multiple cages with a live bait and progressively expanded the surveillance network as the tiger remained elusive. By mid-September, 244 camera traps were used across the wider search area, including adjoining forest ranges and MTR.The operation involved 14 cages and 305 GSM-enabled camera traps, with surveillance maintained round the clock. Forest teams used drones and other monitoring equipment to track the animal’s movements in difficult terrain. Earlier, two trained kumki elephants had been deployed to assist teams in tracking the animal in the rugged O’Valley terrain.Officials had shifted cages to areas where fresh signs of tiger movement were detected, including locations close to MTR. The operation was expanded after camera-trap images suggested that the tiger could have moved away from Lauriston.The capture comes after weeks of concern among residents and coffee plantation and tea estate workers in the O’Valley region, with forest teams maintaining heightened surveillance and taking measures to minimise movement of people in vulnerable areas.During the operation, two leopards were trapped in cages placed between Gudalur Forest division and MTR. Forest officials released the leopards back in the reserve forest area.
