For seven years tiger Rudra, his orange coat blazing through the emerald wilderness, ruled the forest terrains of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary unchallenged.

But a fierce territorial duel with another big cat for space and survival cost him all his canine teeth, with which he incised food and fought his rivals.

The loss of canines took away his bite force and deprived him of his ability to hunt in the wild. Weakened by hunger, Rudra began to wander beyond the forest’s edge and started looking for cattle and other easy prey in human settlements of Surabhikkavala, Thanni Theruvu, and Vadanakkavala, near Pulpally, in Wayanad district.

The presence of the big cat in human habitations triggered fear and people demanded that the animal be captured and removed from the area.

Eventually, Rudr

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