Panic grips Nilgiris village after tribal woman killed in tiger attack

“The couple was taking their cattle into the jungle to graze along with two others, when a tiger pounced on the woman inside the reserve forest area of Singara Range. The animal grabbed the woman by her neck and dragged her into the deep forest,” said a Forest Department staff.

Shocked on seeing his wife being attacked right in front of his eyes, a helpless Mathan and others cried out and soon other villagers joined them. They all with the help of the ForestDepartment staff from Masinagudi launched a search and finally retrieved the body of the woman kept hidden by the animal in a thicket nearly a kilometer from the spot.

After ensuring that the tiger is not around, the villagers took the body of the deceased out of the forest cover to be sent by an ambulance for post mortem at Gudalur Government Hospital. Villagers said that they have noticed the movement of an aged tiger in the nearby forest area over the last few days.

The tragic incident then led the Forest Department to fix cameras along the forest periphery to keep a watch on the carnivore. This is the first fatality in tiger attack since 2016. In the previous incidents, two persons were killed in tiger attacks in Devarsholai and Pattavayal near Gudalur in 2015 and 2016 respectively.