Three elephants deployed to search for tiger in Kanchanpur settlement

Kanchanpur: Elephants have been mobilized to search for a tiger reported to have entered a settlement in Ratanpur, Belauri Municipality-9 of Kanchanpur district.

On Tuesday evening, locals reported sighting a tiger with two cubs in Adarsh Nagar, Ratanpur, prompting them to inform the Shuklaphanta National Park Office. In response, the park dispatched a team of three elephants—female elephant Roopkali and male elephants Lab Prasad and Sidd Prasad—to track the animal, said park information officer Purushottam Wagle.

The search team, which had been stationed in Beldandi on Wednesday evening, moved to the Baijnath Intermediate Consumer Community Forest in Kunda, Belauri Municipality-9, on Thursday. However, no trace of the tiger was found in the Ratanpur area as of Thursday afternoon, said Panchayat officer Abhas Shrestha, a member of the search team.

A leopard had previously been spotted in Belauri Municipality-9, and locals reported that it had killed a goat after entering a house a few months ago. Recent sightings of a big cat with cubs have caused panic among residents.

“It is not yet clear whether the animal is a tiger or a leopard,” Shrestha said. He added that from Friday morning, elephants and drone cameras would be used to intensify the search operation.