Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve:
At the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, a hunt is on for a wounded tigress that has killed four women since November. What's worse, the maneater was shot on Tuesday but couldn't be tracked down since then.
''A search is on for the man-eating tigress... we have built special machans and cages to trap it... we are trying to get the situation under control,'' said Rajesh Gopal, member, National Tiger Conservation Authority who is at the site to take stock of the situation.
The inability of the Forest Department to nab the tigress has incensed the villagers making the wildlife in this area vulnerable to man-animal conflict.
The adult tigress in question had proved to be a menace for all villagers from Dhikuli area adjoining the park. The four women who died were also from the same village and had entered the forest to collect fodder.
Even though it can, over a period of time, recover from a single-bullet injury on its own, the fact that it remains untraceable is worrisome for not just the villagers but also the authorities. And now, that the tigress is injured and in pain, it can only prove more dangerous.
''We need some time to identify the tigress... we don't want to make any mistakes,'' said Shrikant Chandola, the Chief Wildlife Warden of Uttarakhand.
Despite mobilising dog squads, searches on elephants and placing various kinds of baits, the tigress has not been spotted. Yet, wildlife authorities do not want to push harder because camera traps show presence of four tigers in the area and they don't want to hurt the wrong one.