Tiger that killed man in Malappuram caught after 53-day long search

Malappuram (Kerala) | The tiger, which killed a rubber-tapping worker near Kalikavu here nearly two months ago, was on Sunday trapped in one of the several cages set-up around the area where the incident occurred, the forest department said.

A forest official of the district said that intensive search operations involving three separate 20-member rapid response teams with tranquilisers and a veterinarian each had been searching the forests around Kalikavu since May 15 for the feline.

It got trapped in one of the cages in the wee hours of Sunday, the official said.

The tiger was identified in May as one from the Silent Valley National Park based on its image captured by one of the camera traps set up in the area.

Besides camera traps and thermal camera drones, the department had also deployed kumki elephants (trained captive tuskers) to look for the tiger.

On May 15, 45-year-old Gafoor was attacked and dragged into the forest by the tiger when he and a friend were going for rubber-tapping work.