Straying tiger trapped near Lucknow

LUCKNOW: A tiger, which had strayed and was on the prowl on the outskirts of the state capital for last three months was today caught by a team of forest department.

The feline was spotted by the team in Rehmankhera area after which it was tranquilised by deputy director of Lucknow Zoological Garden Utkarsh Shukla and trapped, an official spokesman said here.

The big cat was moving in the area for last 108 days and had killed around 20 animals.

During a review meeting on March 21 Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had directed to tranquilise and trap the tiger.

After trapping the tiger the forest authorities shifted it to Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).

Deputy director of DTR Ganesh Bhat said the encaged tiger was brought to Dudhwa by a special truck today and soon it would be released into the forests.

He said a close monitoring of the movements of the big cat would be done for some time so as to ensure its proper rehabilitation into wildlife.

“A radio collar would be placed on the neck of the tiger to monitor its movements and its mixing up with the Dudhwa tigers,” Bhat said.