Tiger Still Unwilling To Move Out After Prowling In MANIT Bhopal Campus For Nearly Two Weeks?
An?elusive tiger on the campus of the prestigious Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal has forced the authorities to declare early holidays for undergraduate classes and postpone the UG mid-semester exams.??
According to MANIT officials, the tiger, believed to be a sub-adult, has been prowling on the campus for at least 12¨C13 days now.
Tiger T-123-4 from?Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary
Forest officials said the tiger is T-123-4, a big cat from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, spread in Raisen and Sehore districts close to Bhopal.
It is more than two years old and was born to T-123.? ?
Though tigers from the reserve moving into the Kerwa area of Bhopal is not uncommon, their straying into the MANIT campus is a first.
Tiger has been on the campus for two weeks
And unlike big cats, which move out of one place in seven to eight days, T-123-4 has been inside the campus for close to two weeks.
"According to behavioural studies on tigers, they move out of a place in seven to eight days," Bhopal divisional forest officer (DFO) Alok Pathak said.
"A tiger forms a territory in an area of 25 sq km and moves within it, killing and resting," he said.
"The big cat was living in a low-lying area like a ravine spread over a forest area of 300 to 400 acres, which was connected to the thickets on the MANIT campus," the official said.
Classes shut and exams postponed due to tiger fear?
The?tiger that has been moving around the campus, where some 5,000 hostelers and 1,000 family members of staff live, has so far killed at least two cows.
Following this, the livestock have been moved out of the MANIT campus completely.?
MANIT authorities had earlier announced a mid-term break for 5,400 undergraduate students from October 11 to 30, while classes for 600-odd students in post-graduation courses continued.
Efforts on to capture the tiger
The Forest Department has deployed around 50 personnel to monitor the movement of the tiger.?
Earlier this week, forest officials had said that the tiger might have moved out, but on Thursday, fresh pugmarks were spotted, suggesting that it was still on the campus.
"Today, we spotted pugmarks. We have placed?11 cameras to monitor its movement. Five more cameras will be installed soon," Bhopal divisional forest officer (DFO) Alok Pathak told PTI on Thursday.
The Forest Department has also placed two cages on the campus to trap the tiger.?
On the intervening nights of Thursday and Friday, the tiger stepped into one of the tarps but did not enter.
Forest officials said if the tiger doesn't move out of the campus, or if it is not captured in cage traps, they will try to tranquilise it.
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