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Tiger on prowl, Satna village cowers

Bhopal: Hundreds of villagers in Satna district’s Hariyari are spending sleepless nights after a tiger was seen prowling the area. With smartphones in everyone’s hands, pictures of the straying tiger have gone viral in the area, heightening panic.

Foresters have been on the tiger’s trail for two days but are yet to capture it.

Once, they had to fire in the air to drive it away from the village.

Hariyari is close to the corridor between Sanjay Gandhi Tiger Reserve and Panna Tiger Reserve and is no stranger to tiger movement. But this one has unnerved villagers since it seems to be prowling the same area instead of moving off towards Panna as they usually do.

The first sighting was on July 11. Hariyari resident Ramayan Dwivedi had gone to bathe in a river when he saw the tiger and went screaming back to the village. The forest department was informed and a team arrived by 11am. The foresters fired in the air to scare away the tiger and drive it back to the forest, sources said. The team stayed put and is still looking for the tiger.

“It has been driven far away from the village, but we will continue to keep a watch for another week as a precautionary measure and also to give villagers support,” chief conservator of forests (CCF), Rewa forest circle, Atul Khare told TOI. The foresters had driven it towards a hill, he said. Sanjay Gandhi Tiger Reserve officials suspect it is one of their tigers that has strayed towards the village.

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