One person has been killed in what is suspected to be a tiger attack in a village adjacent to Nagarahole National Park in H.D. Kote taluk on Monday.
The victim, identified as Chinnappa, 35, belonged to the local Beda tribes. The incident took place around 7.30 a.m. and the blood-stained body of the victim was found near the bushes close to Hullumutlu village in the D.B. Kuppe range of the national park.
Narayanaswamy, Conservator of Forests and Director of Nagarahole National Park, said the forest and surrounding areas were enveloped in mist.
Chinnappa had ventured into the forest for his morning ablutions when he was attacked by a carnivore suspected to be a tiger.
Eyewitnesses say the tiger dragged him for nearly 100 metres before easing its grip by which time he had died.
Villagers livid
Following the death, hundreds of people from the nearby villages assembled at the spot and cornered the Forest Department staff seeking immediate measures to prevent such incidents. Mr. Narayanaswamy said ₹5 lakh would be released as ex-gratia to the victim’s family. The victim’s wife Devaki will be provided employment as a daily wager in either the Forest Department or any of the government’s schemes.
Meanwhile, two elephants are being used in the village to scour and comb the adjoining areas to ensure that the tiger does not linger. Officials said they want to ensure that the tiger is driven deep into the jungles and is not close to the village though it is likely to return to the same area if it was part of its territory.
It was also clarified that the tiger did not eat the victim. Chinnappa died of wounds and shock. Hence, the big cat could not be construed a man-eater. But following complaints from villagers of their fears of wild animals straying into the forest, around 2 km length of elephant proof trench will be dug and a solar fence will be installed as a second line of defence. This could give the locals a reprieve from a wild elephant coming into conflict with humans in the vicinity.
The authorities have also installed 10 pairs of camera traps to identify if any injured or old tiger was unable to hunt and hence on the prowl close to human habitation and could be a potential killer.
The body of the victim was handed over to the relatives after the post-mortem. This is the second such incident reported in the area. Madhu, a forest guard, was killed near Manimoole Haadi of the same taluk two months ago.
