At a time when Nagpur city is at the centre stage for repeated events of man-animal conflict over last few months, a tiger sighting on Wednesday morning near Adani Power Plant, 37 km from Nagpur near Butibori, caused panic among villagers. A social media post got viral on Wednesday in which a person inside a car captured the video of a tiger crossing a unpaved path just one kilometre away from Adani Power Plant in Butibori. After getting information about the tiger sighting, a forest team from Butibori forest range came in action and started investigation. “Our team is on the location which is close to Mandwa village where they are trying to identify the pugmarks of the big cat. We will conduct night patrolling and also install camera traps to capture the photographs of any further movement of any tiger,” Pramod Wade, Range Forest Officer, Butibori told The Hitavada.

 

Such sighting is not new in Butibori industrial area as the Butibori extension acts as a corridor for tigers moving between Bor Wildlife Sanctuary and Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary, resulting in frequent, sometimes dangerous, proximity to human habitation. Although there is history of tiger presence in the area as many tigers used the corridor, some time the tigers venture close to human habitat. “We will continue patrolling on Thursday as well and also advise villagers to avoid venturing in early morning and late night,” said Wade. There are around four villages are situated close to the sighting area and the villagers are in panic after the viral video.