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Nainital: Tigress caught after fatal attack on labourer near Corbett
According to forest officials, this was the second fatal attack by a big cat reported in the region in the past three days.
The state forest department late on Sunday tranquilised a tigress suspected to have killed a 30-year-old labourer in Bhalon village of Ramnagar in Nainital district, nearly five-and-a-half hours after the incident, officials said. The big cat was later shifted to the Dhela Rescue Centre in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR).
Forest officials said the tigress returned to the incident site nearly five hours after attacking and killing the labourer, following which a veterinary team successfully tranquilised her using a dart gun.
According to officials, the incident occurred around 6.30pm on Sunday under the Patkot beat of Kota range in the Ramnagar forest division, when the tigress attacked the labourer, who was working on a pipeline-laying project, and dragged him into the forest.
Ramnagar forest division divisional forest officer (DFO) Dhruv Singh Martolia said former village head Manmohan Pathak informed the forest department soon after the incident. “A forest team rushed to the spot based on information provided by villagers. The labourer’s body was later recovered from the forest, around 100 metres from the incident site,” Martolia said.
The deceased was identified as Abhimanyu Kumar (30), a resident of Jokatiya village in Bettiah district of Bihar. Forest officials said Kumar had come to Ramnagar to work on a pipeline-laying project under the irrigation department.
Martolia said villagers gathered at the site and protested following the incident, prompting the department to call in a veterinary team. “A team of veterinarians led by senior doctor Dushyant Sharma of Corbett Tiger Reserve reached the spot around 7.30pm, nearly an hour after the incident, and waited for the big cat to return,” he said.
“At around 11.30pm, the tiger or tigress came back to the incident site. As soon as it reappeared, the team tranquilised it using a dart gun. The tigress was then rescued and shifted to the Dhela Rescue Centre,” the DFO added.
Dr Dushyant Sharma said the tranquilised animal was a tigress in good health. “She is around two-and-a-half years old and appears healthy. The tigress returned to the spot, likely drawn by the scent of her prey, which allowed us to tranquilise her safely,” he said.
He added that DNA samples are being collected from the tigress and will be sent for forensic testing to confirm whether she was responsible for killing the labourer. “Until the results are received, the tigress will remain at the rescue centre,” Sharma said.
According to forest officials, this was the second fatal attack by a big cat reported in the region in the past three days. On January 2, a 60-year-old woman, Sukhiya Devi, wife of Chandu Singh, was killed by a big cat in Sawalde village under the Dhela range of Corbett Tiger Reserve.
