Villagers And Bandipur Tiger Reserve Are At Loggerheads Over Tiger Attacks In Mysuru
Villagers Rajshekar (65) and Doddaningaiah were victims of tiger attacks in a span of a few days and Madegowda survived a tiger attack on him
BENGALURU: It is uneasy time along the border villages of Hediyala, Nugu Wildlife ranges and Sargur in close proximity to Bandipur Tiger Reserve which spread across Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts, over 3 tiger attacks on humans leading to two deaths and one serious injury in October.
While forest officials blame villagers on the border for not heeding to their caution, villagers accuse Tiger Reserve officials not taking their complaints on straying wild animals seriously.
Villagers Rajshekar (65) and Doddaningaiah were victims of tiger attacks in a span of a few days and Madegowda survived a tiger attack on him. The tiger left Madegowda with serious eye injuries.
Park officials told Deccan Chronicle on Saturday a villager Rajshekar was attacked by a tigress after he came close to the animal in a field unaware that the tigress had given birth to cubs. The tigress pounced on him and attacked leading to his death.
Doddaningaiah, another victim of a tiger attack, the senior Tiger Reserve official stated, he entered the forest area by crossing a trench and led to a tiger attack on him. He suspected foul play by villagers over their claims of a tiger straying out of the Reserve to attack the person.
Over Madegowda surviving a tiger attack, the Reserve official recalled “There was huge crowd gathering when forest personnel tried to capture a tiger strayed out of the Park. Some villagers pelted stones at the tiger hiding in a bush led to tiger panicking and charged at the crowd.”
Often, villagers do not attach significance to the words of Tiger Reserve officials such as not to try to rescue a cattle if it came under attack from a tiger or a leopard. “We tell villagers to let the tiger/leopard feed on the cattle, they will be suitably compensated for losing their cattle but villagers try to rescue their cattle from a tiger attack and fall prey to it,” he said. A farmer gets Rs 30,000 as compensation for losing a cattle in a tiger/leopard attack.
Tiger reserve officials said to create awareness in the border villages asking aged persons not to enter fields alone in the wake of tiger attacks on aged persons.
Villagers express displeasure over forest officials/personnel over not taking their job seriously. A villager on the border of Bandipur Tiger Reserve accused forest personnel of ignoring alert calls whenever a wild animal strayed out of the Reserve. Even if they come to drive an animal, they arrive at the scene rather late.
A villager claimed forest personnel catch a strayed tiger and release it in the ranges of Bandipur Tiger Reserve which again leads to conflicts. The captured tiger would have developed a habit of attacking humans and after its release in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, the tiger will repeat its attack on humans by straying to nearby villagers on the periphery of the Reserve.
“Official claim to shift caught tiger to rehabilitation and rescue centre in Mysuru but release the caught tiger back to the same Reserve,” a villager claimed to have evidence over re-releasing a caught tiger.
