The first one, T-123-4, had entered MANIT on October 3 and left after two-three nights. “The second one, T-21-421, entered on October 8. We came to know immediately and verified it from pugmarks and camera traps, but kept it a secret to avoid any panic on campus,” DFO Alok Pathak said. The captured tiger was tranquilised and released in Satpura Tiger Reserve after a medical checkup, said Pathak. And what about T-123-4? “It has moved to Kerwa,” said the DFO. T-21-421 weighs 230 kg and is 6 feet in length (excluding the tail). The forest department will continue its vigil on the campus.
There were two tigers, not one, that kept Bhopal-based Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) on the tenterhooks for nearly two weeks. Forest officials revealed this on Sunday after capturing one of them.
The tiger – identified as T-21-421 – weighed in at a rippling 230 kg and measured 6 feet in length (excluding the tail). It was trapped in a bait cage on Saturday night and didn’t like it. Its angry roars echoed on campus and can be heard in a viral video.
Foresters said this was the second tiger to enter the 650-hectare campus. The first one, tiger T-123-4 (the fourth cub of tigress 123), had left two to three nights after it scared the living daylights of three students who were taking a motorcycle ride on the campus at night. It has since been transferred to Satpura Tiger Reserve.
And where is T-123-4? “It has moved to Kerwa,” said the DFO.
DFO Alok Pathak said: “We came to know immediately when the second tiger entered the MANIT campus on October 8. We verified it from pugmarks and camera traps, but kept it a secret to avoid any panic on campus as there were already a lot of tense situations by then.” There were around 5,500 students and 2,000 employees on the campus before mid-term holidays were suddenly declared on October 10.
T-123-4 had entered MANIT on October 3, apparently through a broken section of the rear wall, and left after 2-3 days, say foresters. According to DFO Pathak, there are no more tigers on the campus but the forest department will continue patrolling for some time.
“There are chances that the tiger can return to this place, so we will continue our vigil,” said Pathak, adding that they will use 3 cages and 15 trap cameras for this.
Around 60 officials, employees and vets from the forest department, Van Vihar National Park, a team from Obaidullahganj and the Wild Conservation Trust (WCT) were involved in capturing and transferring the tiger to Satpura Tiger Reserve.
DFO Pathak said the captured tiger is the same one that was spotted near Institute of Excellence on Friday.
After staying for 5-6 days, T-21-421 left MANIT on October 14. “This was when it was spotted near the Institute of Excellence. It moved ahead to the nearby Water & Land Management Institute (Walmi) and returned to MANIT on October 15 around 10.30pm. A few people saw it entering the campus. We launched an intensive search for it,” said Pathak. T-21-421 was last seen a year ago in Walmi.
Around 11.22pm, the tiger began sniffing around the bait cage. “It was trapped in the cage around 11.45 pm on Saturday. It was then tranquilized and released in Satpura Tiger Reserve,” said Pathak.
Prior to this, T-21-421 was mostly tracked in Kathotiya jungles (around 22km from MANIT), said Pathak.
With tigers on the prowl, MANIT had to postpone its annual national tech fest that was due to start on October 8. Two days later, the MANIT administration declared holidays from October 11 to 30 for undergraduate classes and postponed the UG mid-semester exams, which were scheduled on October 14.
Asked what precautions need to be taken to ensure there are no more tiger incursions, Pathak said they have requested the MANIT administration to rebuild the wall at the earliest to keep off tigers and other wild animals.