Bengaluru: Forest officials from the Bhadra Tiger Reserve and the Chikkamagaluru circle have launched an intensive search operation to locate and rescue an injured tiger reportedly roaming the Muthodi Range in Chikkamagaluru along the Western Ghats, even as tourists and trekkers have been advised to avoid vulnerable forest trails in the region.
Sources in the Forest Department said the big cat is suspected to be suffering from severe abdominal injuries after getting caught in a wire snare laid along the boundary of a coffee estate in the Muthodi Range. Camera traps installed by the department near estate boundaries have also reportedly captured visuals of the tiger struggling to free itself from the snare coiled around its abdomen.
Conservation activists have called for urgent and coordinated intervention, noting that the tiger is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Forest personnel have since expanded search operations across the range to trace and rescue the animal. With increased tourist and trekking activity in the Mullayanagiri–Bababudangiri–Muthodi belt during the monsoon, officials have also issued alerts urging caution in densely forested areas.
Activist Dinesh Kallahalli has written to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) and the Chief Wildlife Warden, seeking swift deployment of specialised teams, including veterinarians, tranquilisation experts, drone surveillance units and trained trackers to locate, sedate and treat the animal as per NTCA guidelines. He has also called for the registration of a forest offence case in connection with the snare and demanded an independent inquiry into the incident. In his complaint, he urged authorities to identify and apprehend those responsible and examine possible links to organised poaching networks, besides initiating a departmental inquiry into alleged negligence by field staff.
Confirming the development, Karnataka Chief Wildlife Warden Kumar Pushkar, IFS, said the tiger has been sighted through camera trap footage. “Our teams have been attempting to trace the tiger, which was captured on camera with a snare near Muthodi about four days ago,” he said.
