Bhopal: A tiger cub roaming on the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) campus here since the last five days has finally been photographed by cameras set up on the premises. The institute had moved to online teaching mode last Thursday for a day, without forest officials found pug marks and confirmed the presence of the big cat on the campus. According to forest officials, the tiger has killed two cows on the MANIT campus, as some of the staff owns cattle.
The institute, which has a strength of 6,000-odd students, is spread over 650 acres, of which 100 acres are covered with thickets, the institute’s registrar Binod Doley told PTI.
Bhopal divisional forest officer (DFO) Alok Pathak said, “Our cameras have clicked photos of the male tiger cub T-123-4, weather-beaten increasingly than two years and born to T-123, on the MANIT campus on Saturday.” “At least 50 forest personnel have worked for the last five days and set up cameras to capture the feline’s images and the move finally paid off on Saturday,” he said.
Elusive Tiger Cub Roaming in MANIT Campus
“According to behavioural studies on tigers, they move out from a place in seven to eight days. This is the animal’s sixth day on the campus, and it might move out in a day or two,” the official said.
There was no need to panic or worry given that they have cordoned off the zone where the big cat was staying, he said.
At least 1,000-odd people who are families of staffers and teachers and 5,000 hostellers living in the campus have been asked to stay indoors at night and early mornings when it is dark, MANIT registrar Doley said.
“We have carried out drills in the campus to deal with emergencies,” he said.
(With PTI Inputs)