An Indian university had to cancel an event attended by 10,000 students due to a tiger roaming its campus in Bhopal in central India for several days, India’s forest service and press announced on Monday.
About fifty forest service officers were deployed to try to find and capture the animal for transport to the forest area where it normally lives. The tiger, wandering around this enormous campus for a week, had already had time to kill two cows.
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“We’ve also set up ten camera traps to track his movements, as well as a cage, and we’re waiting. But the tiger didn’t come out“, Alok Pathak told AFP, the regional forest service agent.
According to Alok Pathak, the animal is one of twelve tigers living in the jungle around Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state. Wandering tigers have been roaming around the large campus since last Monday, which covers a forested area, and offers good water sources, good crop cover and free-roaming livestock as kitchens, said Alok Pathak.
The Department of Forestry ensures that campuses are safe for students in broad daylight, while recommending that all studentsdon’t go out alone, by bike or on foot, after sunsetThe presence of the animal forced the university to postpone the annual technology festival which was due to take place from Saturday with the participation of 10,000 students from across India.
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“Just imagine! Tech festival rescheduled because of a tigerone student told The Times of India newspaper. “But we understand that this is the only solution. We can’t take risks with tigers roaming around campus“.
According to the newspaper, classes were held online last week for two days until the Department of Forestry announced that face-to-face classes were possible during the day without security concerns. In addition, a tiger that killed at least nine people in the state of Bihar (eastern) was killed in an operation decided by the authorities that deployed 200 people.
Conservationists blame the rapid expansion of human habitat around the forest and the lack of biological corridors for wildlife migration in various parts of India. According to government figures, 225 people died in India from tiger attacks between 2014 and 2019.
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