Chennai, Oct 15( BPNS)

The MDT23 tiger which is believed to have been responsible for the killing of four humans and 12 cattle heads is captured by the Tamil Nadu forest team after a massive search for the past 22 days.

The tiger was tranquilized by the forest department on Friday. Sources in the department told BPNS that it was spotted along the Masinagudi – Thepakatu road on Thursday and tranquilized on  Friday. There were reports that the tranquilizer was fired on the animal on Thursday night itself but the forest department lost track of the tiger after that.

Forest department officials said that the animal was tranquilized by the veterinarians of the department. Madras High court has ordered not to kill the animal after the Chief wildlife warden of Tamil Nadu, Shekar Kumar Neeraj had ordered hunting down the animal after people started protesting against the menace of the tiger.  This was following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the animal rights group People for Cattle In India (PFCI) that the tiger need not be killed but instead be captured after tranquilizing it.

The search of the tiger was conducted by six teams from the Tamil Nadu forest department and one team each from Kerala and Karnataka. Two kumki elephants and three sniffer dogs were pressed into service to trace and capture the tiger.

People of Gudalur, Masinagudi, Singara, and Bopara area were under fear over the attack of the tiger after it turned to kill humans and cattle.