Chennai: Forest department officials in Tamil Nadu are on a mission mode to capture a tiger and a leopard that killed a cow and a dog in Ooty, a popular tourist destination in the southern state.
Forest department officials told IANS that a tiger had on Thursday killed a cow after dragging it out of its shelter near the Nilgiris. While the forest officials have set up a camera trap to capture the tiger, its movement could not be traced since the incident on Thursday.
In another incident, a leopard climbed on to the second floor of a house and took away a pet dog from its kennel in Ooty. Forest officials have told the municipal administration to clear the shrubs and bushes inside the Tamilagam guest house that is located close to the residential area from where the dog was taken away.
The forest department has also set up a camera trap near the Madumalai Tiger Reserve, after a leopard killed a goat in a nearby village.
With a tiger and a leopard on the prowl in Ooty, tourism business may suffer as the incidents took place near tourist spots.
A tour operator in Ooty, Senthamarai Kannan, told IANS, “After the unfortunate incidents, many people have cancelled their bookings as the news of a leopard scaling the second floor of a residential building and taking away a pet dog was extensively reported in the media.”
Ooty is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Tamil Nadu.
–IANS