• Source:JND
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A tiger that killed a farmer in Kerala’s Wayanad district sparked protests from locals who demanded its death. The tiger was caught in a cage by the forest department on Monday, but the officials wanted to transport it to another location. The locals, however, refused to let the cage be moved and insisted that the tiger be shot.

The villagers claimed that the tiger had killed and eaten 36-year-old Prajeesh on December 9, and his half-eaten body was found about 500 metres from a forest area at Vakeri near Kalpetta. Following the incident, the forest department set up several cages to trap the tiger and on Monday morning the tiger was trapped in a cage, close to where Prajeesh’s body was found. 

“We are not going to allow the authorities to transport this man-eating tiger from here as we want it to be killed as it has already taken the life of our Prajeesh. We know what the authorities will do. They will take this cage from here and then let out the tiger in the forest areas. This will not be allowed again,” said protesters, as quoted by IANS. 

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The Kerala High Court had last week dismissed a petition challenging the order of the forest department to shoot the tiger and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner. The court said that the order was well-reasoned and the petition was filed with ulterior motives. The petitioner was asked to deposit the amount with the Legal Aid within two weeks.

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"Considering the order which, in our opinion, is a well-reasoned order, we feel that this public interest litigation has been filed only with motives known to the petitioner. And we dismiss this petition with a cost of Rs. 25,000. The amount shall be deposited with the Legal Aid within a period of two weeks from today," the High Court order said.