BENGALURU: A tiger attacked and killed a cattle grazer just outside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Monday. The incident occurred in Vadeyanapura village near Hedeyala when the victim, Nagaraju, aged around 40, was grazing cattle with two others.
The tiger, which jumped out of the thicket, killed Nagaraju with a single swipe at his face. The two other grazers threw stones and scared the animal away.
The Forest Department announced an immediate compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the victim’s family and will release another Rs 3 lakh.
A forest official from the Reserve said that a team of foresters will keep an eye on the movements of the tiger. “We are not planning to catch the tiger now, as it looks like an accident. If our teams sight the tiger in the vicinity, we will take further steps. The spot where the victim’s body was found is just a few metres away from the reserve border. The villagers have been cautioned against entering the forest, especially in the night when tigers are most active,” he said.
The villagers demanded that the victim’s son, who has passed his tenth standard, should be given a job in the Forest Department. The villagers also demanded a rail fence along the village to keep elephants at bay.
It was two years ago that a male tiger struck and killed two people near Bandipur. The animal that had also got the taste of human meat was captured and rehabilitated at the Mysore Zoo. But on Monday, the tiger has not bitten into the victim’s body as it was scared away by the fellow grazers.
In another incident on Monday, a tiger died during an attempt to tranquilise it in Wynad Tiger Reserve of Kerala, which shares the boundary with Nagarhole Reserve in Karnataka. The foresters said that the tiger died when darted, as it was weak.
Tiger hides in sugarcane field
A tiger took shelter inside a sugarcane field outside Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Monday. The incident occurred at Raghavapura village, in the Omkara Range of the Reserve. The forest department was planning to bring elephants to drive the tiger back into the forest But the move was opposed by farmers, who demanded compensation for the possible loss of crop if the elephants are used for the operation.
