‘Operation Stripes’ put on hold as starving Explorer stranded in a stone quarry
Andhra Pradesh wildlife officials have temporarily paused 'Operation Stripes,' an effort to rescue a stranded 3.5-year-old tiger named Explorer. The tiger is currently trapped in a stone quarry, and officials are struggling to reach it due to difficult terrain and the animal's weakened state.
Why it matters
The incident underscores the ongoing challenges of human-wildlife conflict and the conservation of endangered species in industrializing landscapes.
The Andhra Pradesh State Wildlife Department on Sunday put the search for the 3.5-year-old male tiger, Explorer, on hold temporarily, citing challenges in accessing the spots where the big cat is stranded. However, the department officials believe that it was stranded in the heart of the Dhecherla stone quarry block.
The move comes two days after the government resumed the ‘Operation Stripes’, a wildlife conservation and rescue initiative by the Andhra Pradesh government to relocate the transient tiger which migrated from Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra.
By Sunday evening, the big cat was stranded in a mango orchard that is nestled between stone-crushing units and man-made ponds near Dhecherla in East Godavari district. Any further move from the current location would spell a threat to its survival, given the risks involved in walking through the stone crushing units.
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