A tiger mauled a 55-year-old man in a field on the fringes of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Gundlupet taluk on Friday. He is the fifth victim of tiger attack in the Bandipur-Nagarhole forest reserve since November.
The victim, Javarayya, is a Soliga tribal and resident of Maddur Colony. Javarayya, along with Marimadaiah, Shivappa and Doddanna of the same village, were tending to cattle when the tiger attacked him.
Shivappa said they were sitting facing different directions so that they could guard the cattle better and prevent them from straying into the forest. “When we heard his screams, we ran to his rescue and found a tiger dragging him into the forest,” he said.
The three men alerted the villagers and forest officials. After an operation that dragged on till noon, Javarayya’s body was found in the forest, one-and-half km away from the place where he was sitting.
Though the residents maintain that Javarayya was mauled by a tiger, forest officials are awaiting the post-mortem report. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Vinay Luthra said that the animal was yet to be identified.
“Still we are not sure whether it is a tiger or a leopard. Postmortem report will provide us with a clear picture,” he said. A cage has been set-up near the village as a precautionary measure, he added.
Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Chief Conservator of Forests H C Kantharaju said the incident occurred as the victim had ventured into the forest to herd cattle.
“The department had warned villagers living in the edges of the forest to neither enter the forest nor herd cattle inside the reserve. However, the warnings have been ignored,” he said.
The incident would not have occurred if the victim had not gone inside the forest, he added. Responding to queries, Kantharaju ruled out the possibility that the tiger which had mauled three people in H D Kote taluk recently was behind the attack.
“Even though we are yet to ascertain whether it is a tiger, it can be noted that a tiger has a territory of 8-10 sq km. Distance between the villages where the three people were killed recently and Maddur tribal colony is more than the territory of a tiger,” Kantharaju noted.