More elephants called to catch tiger

The state forest department has intensified its combing operations for catching the stray tiger. Since the beast has entered the reserved forest area and is moving towards Barabanki, the department has now formed six teams, consisting of 250 employees and six elephants.

On Friday, Forest Minister Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh visited the villages, where the pugmarks were last reported. “This is the final stage of our operations and the animal will be caught soon,” he said.

“With all the equipment and manpower, forest department cannot give any excuse about its inability to catch the tiger. We need to be more cautious and alert, since the tiger is now in the reserve forest area and has to be caught alive,” Singh said.

Forest officers said the pugmarks were last seen in the Chaksana Chaisaar forest area which showed that the tiger was moving towards Barabanki and away from human habitation.