Tiger fatally mauls forest guard in Nagarhole

Bangalore: In a shocking incident of yet another tiger attack, the third one in four days, a forest watcher inside the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve was mauled to death on Friday night. His body was discovered on Saturday morning by his colleagues. The deceased has been identified as D. Suresh (24), and hails from D.B. Kuppe.

The earlier two deaths were reported outside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, nearly 30 km from the present spot, and the forest officials have ruled out that the same tiger was involved in the attack on Suresh.

Moreover, the tiger invo­lved in the earlier killings is said to be weak and wounded. But in the latest attack, the tiger had pou­nced on the watcher, killed him and dragged him for more than 100 feet inside the bushes. Unlike the first two incidents, where the tiger left without feeding on its prey, the tiger in Nagarhole has consumed the thigh part of its victim.

“We are trying to analyse the crime scene, whether the tiger attacked our staff incidentally or was it stal­k­ing him. The victim had gone to answer nature’s call and it is possible that he appeared to be a prey in the night light. But if the tiger has eaten the flesh and it was stalking then it’s a serious issue. We have kept our staff in Nagarhole on high alert and trying to locate the tiger,” said G. S. Prabhu, Principal Chief Conser­vator of Forests.

Eye witness accounts re­v­ealed that the Bandipur tiger seemed old and wou­nded. “It’s difficult for the same tiger to cross river Kabini and pass through all human settlements to reach Nagarhole. We think it is not the same tiger,” said a forest officer from Nagarhole.

The forest officials clarified that these incidents will no way affect the upcoming tiger census. The eight day census will begin simultaneously in the states Karn­ataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala from December 16.

“The foresters encounter wild animals such as tigers and elephant herds on a regular basis. The wild animals do not attack human in most cases. We need to analyse whether these attacks were incidental or they were provoked by something else. However the search for the old tiger outside Bandipur is under progress,” Prabhu added.