A tigress, attacked and devoured a farmer at a village in Vidarbha's Yavatmal district of Maharashtra on Monday, sparking anger among the villagers about the lack of fencing between the village and the nearby Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary.
“A farmer Prahlad Mahadev Madawi, aged 60, was eaten by a tigress and her two cubs when he was working in his farm in Kawatha. The police registered a case of accidental death,” Inspector Aniruddha Adhav told The Hindu from Pandharkawda.
“The villagers of Kawatha Kheda were angry with the Forest officials as the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary which is close-by is not fenced,” he said.
“The farmer had gone to his farm at around 2.30 p.m. In the evening, the bulls returned home but the farmer did not. So his children went to the farm in search of him, fearing that someone might have harmed him. When they reached the farm, they saw the tigress and her two cubs eating their father's body. This must have happened between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.,” Mr. Adhav said. The police could recover only a few body parts.
A tiger had eaten a cow from the village just a few days ago.
“Villagers said that a man-eating tiger from Boriwali National park was released in the sanctuary here. As there are hardly any natural resources left in the forest, the tigers are coming out to the villages and attacking the cattle. There is anger that despite receiving money, the Forest Department has not yet constructed any fence,” Kishor Tiwari, a social activist who was in the village, told The Hindu .
