Tiger kills man, injures another in HD Kote village

A tiger suspected to have killed a man in HD Kote taluk in the recent past, resurfaced on Tuesday, devouring a 55-year-old man and injuring another at Hadanuru village, in the same taluk.

The deceased has been identified as Shivanna (55), who was grazing cattle when the big cat pounced on him at about 10.30 am. He is the second victim of tiger attack in the past one month. Nagaraju from a different village in the taluk was killed in a similar attack on October 13.

The incident came to light after Naganna and two others who were accompanying Shivanna, rushed back to the village and informed the villagers about the attack. A group of youths from the village, who launched a search to trace Shivanna, found his body at a distance.

Meanwhile, the torn clothes of a mentally challenged woman, Devamma, who had gone missing from the village, were found at the spot close to where the remains of Shivanna was found. It is suspected that Devamma too may have been killed by the big cat.
Another person identified as Narendra was attacked by the same tiger, when he had gathered along with others near the spot, around 2.30 pm. Narendra from Sadanapura in Pandavapura taluk in Mandya district, was visiting a nearby temple, when he learnt about tiger attack.

Curious, Narendra went to the spot only to be attacked by the tiger. He suffered injuries on both of his arms. He is admitted to Apollo BGS Hospitals in Mysuru. According to eyewitnesses, the tiger was sitting on Shivanna’s body and devouring it. The news spread like a wildfire and a huge crowd descended on the spot. Some among them tried to shoo away the tiger by bursting fire crackers, but in vain. The tiger fled later, leaving behind severed body parts, that were later taken for post mortem. According to Conservator of Forests Mallesh, the operation to catch the wild cat will begin from Wednesday. The animal would be tranquilised and rescued, he said.

Regularly spotted

The man-eater has been regularly spotted at Hadanuru, Badagalapura, Vadeyanapura and surrounding villages in the taluk since the past two months.  On October 29, a bullock was killed by the tiger at Hadanuru. After this incident, the panic-stricken villagers had urged the Forest department to place a cage on the spot to trap the tiger. Accordingly, the a cage was placed with a dog as the bait.

The tiger visited the spot and tried to devour the dog, but escaped from getting trapped.On November 12, the tiger pounced on the sheep at Haralahalli hadi leaving Sannaiah, who was grazing them severely injured.