Forest department has captured a tigress, which had strayed into human habitations and triggered panic at Thelembetta in Noolpuzha panchayat near the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) on Tuesday night.The 10- year old tigress was trapped in a cage set up by the department at 10.45pm.WWS warden N T Sajan said that the captured tigress has been shifted to the rehabilitation centre attached to the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Thiruvananthapuram where it will be held in captivity inside an enclosure.The chief wildlife warden had issued an order to capture the tigress on Tuesday declaring it as a’problem' animal after it entered a cattle shed and killed a cow and later attacked another cow which was grazing in a field.Forest officials said that the tigress had strayed around 1.5 km from the forest boundary. The decision to capture the tigress was made as per the recommendation of the six- member committee comprising forest officials and wildlife NGO representatives.Local residents had earlier reported about a tiger straying at Thelembetta under the Sultan Bathery forest range.The animal struck in the wee hours of Tuesday when it killed a cow belonging to a farmer at Thelembetta.The tigress again attacked another cow which was grazing in a field nearby at around 11am. The owner of the cow was standing just 50 metres away when the incident happened. The cow, however managed to survive though it sustained injuries in the attack.Forest officials installed a cage trap near the location and placed the carcass of the cow as bait at around 9.30 pm. The tigress walked into the trap within one hour of setting up of the trap.Chief conservator of forest (Wildlife), Northern Region, B N Anjan Kumar, who led the operation, said that three of the four canine teeth of the tigress were missing and the remaining lone canine tooth was partly worn off."The missing canine teeth could have made it difficult for the animal to hunt in the wild, forcing the animal to stray out and resort to hunting of cattle. The animal was so desperate for food that it entered the cage within an hour of us installing it," he added."The animal was not fit for release to the wild as it could again stray out and kill some cattle or even attack humans," Anjan Kumar said. The WWS is the most tiger- rich forest in the state accounting for around 76 tigers of the total of 136 big cats in the state.

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