One tiger, prowling in Rehman Khera on the outskirts of Lucknow since the past four months, is not only causing a major strain on the state exchequer but is also posing a major problem for the state government.
A sum of nearly `4 lakhs has been spent on the on-going campaign to nab the wild cat and forest officials have been camping in the area since early January — when the animal was first sighted — but all their efforts to catch him have proved futile.
The tiger has so far preyed on nine calves, two buffalo, five blue-bulls and one bull. An elephant, Roopkali, brought in from Dudhwa national park, has also failed to help in catching the tiger.
“The tiger is so smart that all our efforts to track him down have failed. We cannot shoot him because that is a violation of the wildlife laws and we cannot tranquillise him because he mostly emerges in the night and visibility at that time is poor,” said a wildlife official involved in the campaign.
On Thursday, state minister for wildlife, Shiv Pratap Yadav, visited Rehman Khera with a team of wildlife experts to get first hand knowledge about the operations to track the wild cat.
As soon as the minister’s convoy entered the campus of the Central Institute of Sub-tropical Horticulture (CISH), the tiger appeared and crossed the road. Before the wildlife experts could get the tranquillising darts together, he majestically disappeared into the forest again.
The minister, who was taken aback at the sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance of the tiger, has now asked officials to arrange for experts from other states to nab the animal.
The scare of the tiger in the villages in Rehman Khera is so great that life has become almost paralysed in the region.
Children have stopped going to school, people do not venture out of their homes even in broad daylight and social functions like marriage have been put off in the region.