Chennai: A 12-year-old male tiger that was caught on Friday morning for the suspected killing of two people in Gudalur, Nilgiris district, is being transported to Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur in Chennai.Forest officials said the tiger will reach the rehabilitation centre at Vandalur zoo in the wee hours of Saturday. “Based on an examination and recommendation of technical guidance committee constituted, in accordance with the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), it has been determined that the tiger’s canine teeth have worn down and it is in a weakened physical condition. Therefore, it has been found that there are no possibilities of releasing it back into the wild,” a release said.The last man-eating tiger that was relocated to Vandalur was MTRT 37 in 2025. The adult tiger had killed a 65-year-old tribal woman.This tiger was trapped in a cage near Gudalur in the early hours of Friday, after a 28-day search operation by forest officials, involving significant manpower, camera traps, cages, kumki elephants and drone cameras. It was taken to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, where it was confirmed to be behind the deaths of M Balakrishnan on Aug 9 and K Ravikumar on Aug 21. During the operation, two leopards were trapped and subsequently released back in the reserve forest area.
