Adilabad: A tiger attacked a man in the Kagaznagar forest division on Saturday afternoon, about 25 km from the spot where a big cat had killed a woman on Friday. It is believed that the same tiger was involved in both incidents.
The farmer, Rauthu Suresh, 35, was attacked while picking cotton in his field in Dubbaguda in Sirpur (T) mandal of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. Leading the rescue was his wife Sujatha, working nearby, who pelted stones at the tiger and drove it away even as Suresh tried to save himself.
They were joined by other villagers who rushed to the spot on hearing their cries for help. Locals shifted Suresh, who sustained injuries to his neck, to a hospital in Sirpur (T) and later to Kagaznagar and then to Mancherial for better treatment.
Officials said Suresh was out of danger, and the injuries from the claws of the tiger did not go deep, and that his condition was stable and that he was out of danger.
Sujatha later said that the forest department officials or staff had not issued any alert about the presence of a tiger near their village. “Had they warned us, none of us would have risked going to the fields,” she said.
Forest department officials led by Kawal tiger reserve field director S. Shantaram, and Asifabad district forest officer Neeraj Tibrewal, are monitoring the situation and the tiger’s movements. More than 100 personnel have been pressed into service to track the tiger. Shantaram said that it is believed that the same tiger was involved in Friday’s and Saturday’s incidents and that as on Saturday evening, it was moving near the Telangana-Maharashtra border.
The tiger travelled 25 km and reached Dubbaguda from the place where it attacked Morle Laxmi in Kagazangar mandal on Friday but forest staff could not track its movements.
Meanwhile, the presence of the tiger and the two attacks resulted in cotton picking price going up from `8 per kg to `10 per kg in the area. Many farmers are worried that if they do not complete the harvesting of cotton, the early morning dew will destroy the crop resulting in poor prices for their produce.
