The Coimbatore range forest officials along with World Wide Fund for Nature spotted a tiger in the Boluvampatti region during a joint tiger monitoring programme. The tiger was spotted within a week of installing the cameras for the monitoring programme, indicating a healthy ecosystem, the Forest Department noted.

The forest range officers noticed the movement of tigers in the area and then, along with World Wide Fund, decided to install trap cameras i.e. cameras with motion sensors, in the Boluvampatti region.  As part of the monitoring process, the officials were able to spot a healthy male tiger within a week of installing the cameras, a note from the Forest Department said. 

Confirming the spotting of a tiger, District Forest Officer of Coimbatore, Venkatesh, said, “The tiger was spotted in a tiger breeding area. This shows the healthy ecosystem and the untouched breeding process. The forest range officials have been spotting tigers in the region.” 

The Forest Officer, however, denied that the tiger was spotted after a period of ten years. “We have been spotting tigers in Boluvampatti. The information that the tiger was spotted after 10 years is not true,” he said. 

The cameras also captured images of a leopard and a sloth bear in Boluvampatti region.

The region was in the news later, due to the recent spike in the number of elephant deaths which created a debate on the health of the ecosystem in the forest range. 

On August 11, a 15-year-old elephant had succumbed to prolonged illness in the Boluvampatti region. The death of the elephant took the total number of elephant deaths there to 17 within this year.

The veterinary doctor conducting post mortem for the elephant deaths also noted the presence of organophosphorus substance in the food consumed by the elephants, and said that it could be one of the reasons for the death. The organophosphorus insecticide was sprayed by the farmers in the region. 

In such a backdrop, the spotting of tigers and other wild animals has come as a positive sign for the wildlife enthusiasts, environmentalists and the people in the region.