E-Paper
Tiger kills two, including child, in Coorg
According to forest officers, the tiger attacked Chetan (12), the son of a migrant labourer at Churikadu in K Badaga village on Sunday at 4 pm. Chetan’s parents migrated from Panchavalli in Hunsur just three months back for a coffee estate owned by N Poonacha. The workers were in the estate when the tiger killed the boy, playing in front of the labourer’s quarters provided by the estate owner, officers added.
A tiger killed two people within 24 hours on the border of Karnataka’s Kodagu and Kerala, forest officials said on Monday.
According to forest officers, the tiger attacked Chetan (12), the son of a migrant labourer at Churikadu in K Badaga village on Sunday at 4 pm. Chetan’s parents migrated from Panchavalli in Hunsur just three months back for a coffee estate owned by N Poonacha. The workers were in the estate when the tiger killed the boy, playing in front of the labourer’s quarters provided by the estate owner, officers added.
On Monday at 7 am, the tiger attacked 75-year-old Raju in Churikadu village in a coffee estate. The tiger attacked when Raju came out of the house, killing him on the spot, officials said.
Both incidents occurred within 500 meters of distance and just a kilometre from the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary buffer zone, officials said.
Soon after the first incident, forest officers rushed to the spot and distributed a cheque for ₹2.5 lakh to the parents of the boy.
“The state forest department wildlife warden issued orders to catch the tiger. More than 250 forest personnel and officers launched a huge combing operation since Monday morning,” Nagarhole tiger reserve director Harsha Chikka Naragund said.
“The tiger might be aged and unable to hunt hence killing humans. We have installed 30 trap cameras in various places, placed three cages, using five elephants in operation and would catch the man-eater soon,” he added.
Virajpet MLA K G Bopaiah said the incident was painful. “Innocent workers lost lives to tiger menace. I will meet CM B Bommai today and urge him to issue orders to catch the tiger at the earliest before claiming another life,’’ he said.
‘’Villagers would not keep quiet when animals attack humans in the region. In the olden days, the Kodava community has a history of killing tigers which were menacing in villages,” said Akhila Kodava Samaja youth wing president Chammatira Praveen Uthappa.
He said when the tiger becomes a man-eater, the only remedy is to kill the animal to save the lives of humans or catch it to shift at the animal rescue centre. He urged the officers to take immediate action to kill the tiger, or villagers would take up severe agitation.
The Mysuru, Chamarajanagara and Kodagu districts witnessing growing man–animal conflict for months. The villagers staged protests many times to provide a permanent solution to the problem.
This is the seventh attack by big cats in the Mysuru region since October. The first attack was on October 31, when Manjunath, a college student, was mauled to death by a leopard in T Narasipura taluk of Mysuru district.
The second attack on December 1, 2022, claimed the life of another college student Meghana, who was going towards her family’s farm in S Kebbehundi village in T Narasipura taluk. Following this, an elderly woman, Siddamma was attacked on January 20 at Kannayakanahalli in T Narasipura taluk.
Similarly, a leopard killed 11-year-old student Jayanth in Horalahalli village in T Narasipura taluk on January 21. After severe protests by villagers forest officers caught two leopards by launching a huge operation in which thermal drone cameras were also used. On January 22, a tiger killed a tribal youth Manju (18), at Balle tribal colony in H D Kote taluk under Nagarhole tiger reserve.
After hearing the news, a relative tribal woman Jayamma (45), was shocked and died at Koluvige tribal colony in Mysuru district on Monday.
