A tiger mauled to death a 10-year-old girl at a village near the Ratapani wildlife sanctuary here, a forest official said today.
The girl along with her two younger siblings had taken their cattle for grazing to a forest adjoining Khanabad village, located in the buffer zone of Ratapani sanctuary, when the feline attacked her yesterday, the forest department's sub-divisional officer, Manoj Bhadoriya, said.
"As per the information, the tiger pounced on the girl, a class 5 student, killing her on the spot near the village panchayat office," he said.
The girl's younger brother and sister made an attempt to save her by throwing stones at the carnivore, but in vain, he said.
As the siblings started screaming, the tiger left the girl and went away from there.
The girl's siblings took the body to their village and informed the villagers. Later, the villagers informed the forest department and the police about the incident.
"This is the first such incident reported from this area. The teams of forest department have started a search for the tiger. We have told the villagers to avoid taking cattle into the deep forest areas," Bhadoriya said.
Additional Superintendent of Police Avdhesh Pratap Singh said the girl's body was handed over to the family members after the post-mortem.
"A case has been registered and further investigation is underway," he said.
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