Tigers in forest areas near Bhopal, steps to curb man-animal conflict

Bhopal: Admitting presence of a tiger and a tigress in the jungle areas adjoining Bhopal, senior forest and wildlife officials today said that they are taking all possible steps to prevent man-animal conflict.

"Because of the steps taken by the Forest Department, we have so far prevented man-animal conflict in the area and appeal to people to extend all possible support so that the tiger identified as T-22 and and tigress T-2 retreat to the dense forest areas," Forest Department head, Narendra Kumar and Chief Wildlife Warden, Ravi Shrivastava told reporters.

"We are taking all possible steps to prevent man-animal conflict in the area," they said.

The officials said the presence of wild animals in the vicinity of Bhopal has been recorded for decades and T-22, which is two years and nine months old as per the department's records, is roaming in nearby Kaliasot area after a fight with another male tiger in the dense forest.

However, they did not share details of the strategy for dealing with T-22 and T-2 and added that they will act according to the situation.

The Forest Department has deployed two elephants in Kaliasot area to track the big cats for the last 10 days and probably the tiger has retreated to deep forest, officials associated with the drive said.

On October 29, a tiger had strayed into premises of Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering (CIAE) in Nabibagh area here. The animal was tranquilised and shifted to Panna Tiger Reserve, they said, adding the feline is doing well in the new environs.