Cages placed to trap animal, suspected to be hyena, in Erode district’s Bhavanisagar
The Hindu
With a sheep suspected to be killed by a hyena in Pasuvapalayam village in Bhavanisagar, the Forest Department placed three cages in an attempt to trap the animal, on Friday, December 1, 2023.
With a sheep suspected to be killed by a hyena in Pasuvapalayam village in Bhavanisagar, the Forest Department placed three cages in an attempt to trap the animal, on Friday, December 1, 2023.
A few days ago, an animal killed a sheep owned by a farmer, Velusamy, after which the Bhavanisagar Forest Range Office in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) was alerted. A team led by C. Sivakumar, Range Officer, along with staff inspected the spot and found marks, believed to be those of a hyena. The farm is located 4 km from the forest boundary, and village residents feared that the animal could come back again.
The Forest Department then placed camera traps to identify the animal, and movements of a hyena were recorded.
The three cages have now been placed with bait at the farm, while staff are continuing to patrol the area. The Department had asked people not to venture into farms during the night and has asked them to remain cautious.
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When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.