Chennai, Oct 20 (BPNS)
The MDT 23 which was captured after a 22-day search in the forests of Gudalur and Masinagudi has been put in day kraal at Mysore Zoo rescue centre on Wednesday.
This is to enable the animal to relax in a private space away from the visitors. Veterinarians treating the tiger said that its injuries are healing well.
After it was captured, the tiger was kept in an enclosure at the Mysore animal rescue centre till Wednesday, and the kraal at the zoo provide it a private space to roam around.
The kraal in the Mysore zoo is an open centre with lush green shrubs and trees and fenced around.
Shekar Kumar Neeraj, Chief Wild Life Warden, Tamil Nadu while speaking to media persons on Wednesday said, “The tiger is aggressive on seeing a doctor and has tried to break the wire mesh of its enclosure by biting with its teeth and has lost one of his canine teeth. This has been recorded and preserved.”. He said that the health of the animal is improving.
Veterinarians said that the tiger is administered antibiotics and its swollen foot is getting better and that the animal has passed feces which is normal.
The Mysore Zoo rescue centre in a statement said that the tiger ate 8 kg of beef and that its blood hemoglobin levels are improving and that it has gone above 9 for the first time.
The tiger, according to veterinarians has been administered with injections through blow darts or jab sticks and no sedation is given. The doctors also said that the serum levels of the tiger showed slight signs of liver inflammation.
It may be noted that the MDT 23 tiger has reportedly killed four human beings and 12 cattle heads including cows and goats. The Tamil Nadu forest department had ordered hunting down the animal but the Madras High Court had ordered to capture the tiger alive. This was following a petition by the animal rights organization, People for Cattle in India (PFCI).
Six teams of forest personal from Tamil Nadu and one each from Kerala and Karnataka were involved in the search operations to capture the tiger which remained elusive for 22 days. Two kumki elephants, Udayan and Srinivasan, and three sniffer dogs were used for assistance in the operation to capture the animal.
