JOIN USA 35-year-old labourer, who was on her way to work, was mauled to death by a tiger at a coffee estate on the Pandaravalli-Kolagame road at the foot of the Mullayyanagiri hill in the district on Saturday morning.
The tiger pounced on her at around 7.30 am, as Sumitra, wife of Anand, a resident of Pandaravalli, was walking to the estate belonging to Shankaregowda for work. The big cat bit into the woman’s neck and is said to have dragged the body up to a distance of half a kilometre.
Passersby noticed that the woman’s lunch box and head scarf lay scattered on the roadside grass.
Looking around, they found Sumitra’s body lying in the vicinity.
Local residents gathered at the spot and expressed their ire at the Forest officials. They said that there had been three incidents of attack on humans and cattle by tigers in the last three to four months in the Mullayyanagiri and Dattapeetha region.
Yet, the authorities concerned had not taken precautionary measures to prevent the attacks.
They alleged that the killer tiger had been brought there from outside to evict the forest dwellers.
Residents’ threat
The residents threatened to kill the big cat themselves, if it is not shifted out. A cheque for Rs 2 lakh as compensation was handed over to the victim’s husband by the Forest department officials.
The residents withdrew their protest after they were assured by the Forest officials that the tiger would be captured at the earliest.