Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 14 (IANS): For over two weeks, residents of Kurukenmoola village in Kerala's Wayanad district have been living under stress with a tiger on the rampage in the area and to deal with the menace, the Forest Department has now called in two 'Kungi' (trained) elephants to aid its hunt.

The village has, in the past 15 days, lost 16 domesticated animals to the tiger and its residents are not happy, as despite the best efforts of forest officials who have striving hard to trap the big cat, and it continues to cause havoc.

DFO, Wayanad South, A. Shajana said that they are now waiting the arrival of two trained elephants who will be employed to trap the tiger.

"Cages have been put up at a few locations in the locality... besides drones will also be put into service to locate the tiger. The trained elephants of the Forest Department are expected to arrive anytime and once they reach, they will be used to locate the tiger," said Shajana.

According to those in the know of things, forest officials will mount on the trained elephants and move into the forests to search for the tiger as there is a legend that tigers are wary of elephants.

Apart from the elephants, there are about 100 Forest officials and are grouped in teams and if they sight the tiger, they will be using tranquiliser guns to tame the beast.

Meanwhile, the authorities in four village councils at Manathavady in Wayanad district, have asked people not to move around in the night.