In a dramatic escalation of human–wildlife conflict, villagers of Bommalapura, about 15 kilometers from Gundlupet town, confined ten forest department personnel inside a tiger-trapping cage to vent their anger against what they alleged was the department’s failure to act swiftly on tiger threats.
Villagers Cage Forest Department Officials
The incident unfolded on Tuesday evening after residents spotted a tiger prowling in the vicinity. Alarmed, they alerted the forest department, which dispatched a team with a cage to capture the animal, as per a report on Times of India. However, villagers claimed the response was delayed and that their repeated appeals over cattle kills and human attacks in the Bandipur buffer zone had gone unheard.
Came to catch tiger, got caged instead: Karnataka villagers confined foresters as they fail to nab big cat
Dramatic scenes unfolded in Bommalapura village in Karnataka as angry locals captured several forest department employees and rangers, locking them in a cage set up to… pic.twitter.com/D3mfnFaHjh
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Frustrated by what they described as years of negligence, the residents decided to teach the officials a lesson. Seven of the personnel, including guards and watchers, were locked inside the cage that had been brought for the tiger, reported NDTV. Others were surrounded and prevented from leaving until senior officers intervened.
Villagers alleged that they had lost numerous cattle in recent months, yet compensation was either delayed or denied. They also expressed fears of venturing into fields after dusk, blaming the department for inadequate patrolling and poor preventive measures.
Following the standoff, forest officials initiated a combing operation in and around Bommalapura to locate the tiger. As part of the operation, Partha Sarathi, a trained elephant from Bandipur, has been deployed to aid the search. Officials urged villagers to cooperate, assuring that measures were being taken to address their safety concerns.
