Angul: Demanding prior information from the forest department before leaving big cats into the wild, thousands of forest dwellers expressed concern over their safety.
Thousands of forest dwellers from panchayats including Purunakote, Matiasahi, Jagannathpur, Tikarpada, Manikjodi and Balang Wednesday gheraoed the District Collectorate demanding security.
“If the Royal Bengal tigers are not kept in enclosures, we will gun them down,” said the villagers.
“We don’t have any objection to the release of tigers or elephants into the forest. But before releasing them, the forest department should have informed us. In absence of any information, we are living in constant fear,” they pointed out.
They also complained that they are not able to go into forest to collect forest produce and let their cattle and goats for grazing.
The villagers were scheduled to approach the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) Thursday.
Notably, tiger Mahabir was brought from Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh June 21, tigress Sundari from Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh June 28 to Odisha as part of inter-state tiger relocation exercise to increase the tiger population in Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
