Hunt for killer tigress: Now, Sniffer dogs roped in to track man-eater tigress

Mumbai, Oct 9: After drones, trained elephants and tranquilizing teams, a tracking and sniffing expert is on way to capture the killer tigress T1 of Pandharkawda. This is probably for the first time that sniffer dogs are being deployed to capture a tiger.

Cane Corso, the old Italian dog breed will be handled by Golfer Jyoti Randhawa during the hunt. These are powerful and athletic dogs and have the ability to hunt wild boars. They do not fear tigers and have a very powerful sense of smell.

The forest authorities have thrown just about everything they have at the tigress: hundreds of foot soldiers to comb the jungle, bulldozers to clear it, sharpshooters, jeeps, camera traps, a thermal imagery drone and five Indian elephants in hopes of surrounding the tiger so the veterinarians riding the elephants can dart her. But all in vain.

So the rangers plan to deploy a new weapon: the sniffer dog.

Why are sniffer dogs effective?

Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell that is almost one thousand times more sensitive than a human's. This gives them the ability to discriminate between the faintest odours and detect smells from both live species and raw materials. Sniffer dogs are often trained to detect specific products such as tiger skin and bones but they are also effective in detecting other wildlife contraband such as ivory, bear bile, live bird species, snakes and even weapons.

India's top hunter back in action

Both the dogs belong to Hyderabad-based sharpshooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan and live in a fenced yard in his palace. After much debate, Khan joined the operation on Monday.

"Search operation is on for a year now. We have the best equipments but tigress cannot be spotted in the thick grass. Also,with time she has learnt how to escape our operations and for safety of her cubs, she attacks more severely", said Nawab Shafath Ali Khan.

Efforts on to tranquilise tigress

Search operation is on for the man-eater tigress in Pandharkawda forest,Yavatmal. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest(Wildlife), said "We've now changed the strategy.Wherever there is possibility for tigress to come,traps will be placed.First effort will be to tranquilize her".