Nagpur: Tension ran high in the city of Gadchiroli on Monday when a full grown tigress entered the nursery near the Government Agriculture College in the centre of the town.
The tigress was probably chasing a wild boar, and got trapped in the nursery of the agriculture department located on the main road. After hours long operation in the thickly vegetated nursery, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of Tadoba with the help of local foresters tranquilized and rescued the feline on Monday afternoon.
The tigress was first spotted by workers at the nursery of Agriculture Science Centre. Since the nursery has a compound wall around it, the tigress could not move out. Centre in-charge Dr Karale immediately informed CCF, Gadchiroli, Kishor Mankar.
Senior officers led by DCF Milish Datta Sharma, ACF Sonal Bhadke and in-charge RFO, Gadchiroli, Dhiraj Tembre rushed to the spot with a team of foresters. Thousands of people rushed to the spot to have a glimpse of the feline.
Forest officials had to summon a posse of cops to control the mob, while foresters started a search operation. As the tigress was continuously moving inside the nursery, it was difficult to track the beast. Finally, the RRT team from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) was summoned.
RRT under the supervision of veterinarian Dr Ravikant Khobragade tracked the three-and-a-half-year-old tigress and sharp shooter Ajay Marathe darted it with tranquilizer at 4.18 pm.
After the feline was sedated, it was captured in a net and transferred to a cage. The tigress was moved to the forest nursery in Gadchiroli. It is likely that the tigress will be released back into the wild soon after permission is received from PCCF (wildlife), reports said.
