Much to the disappointment and dismay of wildlife activists and animal lovers, the elusive tiger at Doddabetta in Ootty was shot dead by a team of Special Task Force of Tamil Nadu Police and foresters late Wednesday evening.
The animal had killed a cow early in the day and it came to devour the carcass late evening. “The tiger was shot near Kundachappai village by a team of forest officials on Wednesday evening. After being shot the tiger disappeared and its body was discovered after about an hour,” Nilgiris district collector P Shankar told journalists.
The tiger shot into notoriety when it killed three persons including two women in a space of a fortnight. Though the STF commandoes and foresters were pressed into service, the animal remained elusive and appeared as per its whims and fancies. Though the local people started calling it man eater, the tiger never ever ate its human preys. The State Government issued an alert following complaints by a section of the population that the tiger was a man eating animal.
Dr TCR Nambiar, head of the department of veterinary, Guruvayoor Devaswom, expressed his shock over the killing of the tiger. “It is illegal to kill the tiger. The man-animal conflict is nothing new since man has been usurping temple lands eulogising the modern day accountant.