Tiger on prowl: Fear grips Telangana villages after woman mauled to death in Asifabad

Hyderabad: Residents of at least seven villages that come under the Easgaon Gram Panchayat in the Asifabad district of Telangana are living in the grip of fear following the killing of a woman and attack on a man by a tiger in two different incidents on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Forest officials confirmed that the tiger involved in both incidents was the same, and it might have strayed into Asifabad forest from the neighbouring Maharashtra jungle.

At least four teams were deployed to patrol these villages—Nazrulnagar, Seethanagar, Anukoda, Gannaram, Kadamba, Areguda, and Babanagar--and drones are being flown to track the tiger that has been on the prowl.

On Friday morning, a tiger mauled Morle Lakshmi, 21, to death while she was picking cotton balls in farmland in Nazrulnagar village in Kagaznagar mandal. Lakshmi, belonging to another nearby village, Gannaram, fell unconscious after receiving serious injuries to her neck as the tiger mauled her. She was rushed to Kagaznagar hospital, but doctors said she was brought dead.

Lakshmi and about eight other labourers were harvesting cotton when the incident occurred. After other labourers raised an alarm, a panicked tiger fled back into the forest.

In another incident, on Saturday a tiger attacked a farmer while he was picking cotton on his farm at Dubbaguda village in Sirpur mandal. The tiger attempted to kill farmer Rauthu Suresh on the farm, inflicting injuries on his neck. He managed to survive by freeing himself from the jaws of the tiger. Suresh was immediately shifted to a hospital in Kagaznagar.

The tiger is suspected to have strayed into the Asifabad forests from the neighbouring Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur of the neighbouring Maharashtra.

Using the drone cameras, forest officials tracked the tiger 10 kilometers from Easgaon, and now they are trying to divert the big cat into the deep forest. Farmers harvest the cotton crop from October to December, but now they fear entering their farms.

Asifabad district forest officer Neeraj Tibrewal said that with footprints, they could identify the tiger as a male, and it might have strayed into the Telangana side in search of a mating partner.