Tiger kills guard in Assam's Orang National Park

Guwahati: A home guard was killed by a tiger in Assam's Orang National Park, a forest official said on Thursday.

Two home guards were patrolling on foot in Bilpara range of the park when a tiger attacked and dragged one of them inside the forest on Wednesday evening, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pradipta Barua told reporters.

The other guard informed the forest officials and a search was launched till late evening, he said. The tiger was seen dragging the guard, identified as Dhanmoni Deka, inside the forest and the search team opened fire in the air, the DFO said.

On hearing the sound of the gunshot, the tiger left the guard's body and retreated into the forest.

The body has been sent for postmortem and other related formalities, he said.

The tiger has tasted human blood which is a matter of concern and will try to identify the animal by its pugmarks and camera trapping so that necessary precautions can be taken during patrolling, Barua said.

Orang National Park is spread across Darrang and Sonitpur districts and has a population of 26 tigers, according to the last census in 2022.