Man-eater of Wayanad killed

The special task force (STF) of Tamil Nadu police killed the man-eater tiger of Wayanad, which had killed two people and mauled one last week.
However, whether the protocol instituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was adopted to identify the animal before it was killed remains a moot point. Sources said the eight year-old male tiger was shot dead around 3 pm in a private estate in Perumballi, a village near Mukkatti in Gudalur taluk. Forest departments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu had declared it a man-eater after it killed 63-year-old Bhaskaran at Puthukolly and Mahalakshmi, an estate labourer, at Pattavayal. The animal had also injured Rajeesh (29).
Though an elaborate network of camera traps and trackers was deployed, it was the workers of the estate in Perumballi who alerted the STF about the presence of tiger around 2.30 pm. Soon STF personnel and veterinarians surrounded the estate. But initial attempts to tranquilise it failed and the tiger pounced on a STF commando forcing the personnel to fire four rounds killing it instantly.
Sadiq Ali of Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust, an Ooty-based NGO, said the tiger had several injuries on its shoulder and deep wounds on other parts of the body. “The external injury and stripes of the dead animal match that of the tiger which attacked the woman,” said Nilgiris collector P Sankar.
The standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by NTCA in January, 2013, insists that a committee has to be formed with nominees of the state chief wildlife warden, NTCA, a vet, representatives of a local NGO and panchayat, and the district forest officer to identify the man-eater. The committee should make all efforts to identify the man-eater using camera traps, pug impression pads and DNA analysis of scats and hair.
``But in this case, no such panel was formed before it was declared a man-eater,’’ a senior forest officer said. ``But a committee has now been formed to look into its post-mortem,’’ he said.