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Farmer injured in 3rd tiger attack in Kheri
The previous two encounters ended up in human casualties; Tejpal was rescued by locals and hospitalised
Lakhimpur Kheri: A farmer was critically injured after he was attacked by a tiger in the Maheshpur forest range in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, forest officials confirmed. The tiger was said to be hiding in a sugarcane field near Bhadaiya village under Hyderabad police station limits when it attacked Tejpal, 40.
Others present rushed to Tejpal’s rescue and chased away the tiger, which was said to have hid again in the fields.
This was the third such attack in the region since August 27. The previous two encounters ended up in human casualties.
Tejpal sustained deep injuries on his head and face following which he was sent to Gola community health center. However, in view of his injuries, he was rushed to district hospital, where he was said to be out of danger.
The divisional forest officer (DFO) of South Kheri Forest Division, Sanjay Biswal, said the tiger that attacked Tejpal was a different one, and the previous two attacks were carried out by one tiger.
On August 27, a tiger killed Ambarish Kumar of Imaliya village. Weeks later on September 11, it struck again and Jakir, 40, of Muda Assi village in the same area.
As the tiger attacks took place around the same time as wolf attacks in the neighbouring Bahraich, it left the forest authorities and the UP government seriously concerned.
Despite deployment of a number of monitoring teams, drone cameras and cages since August 28, the tiger could not be trapped. Also, four teams of forest officials along with tranquilising experts were deployed in the area to catch the big cat.
Forest minister Arun Kumar Saxena and other senior forest authorities visited Kheri once on August 28 and again on September 3 to monitor the situation.
DFO Biswal said waterlogging due to heavy rain and dense sugarcane fields posed a challenge to the monitoring teams to trace and tranquilise the tiger.
Dozen tigers in Maheshpur range
Over a dozen big cats have been reported to be prowling in the Maheshpur range. The area is surrounded by sugarcane fields and human habitations.
The presence of wild boars, nilgais and stray animals in the area attract the big cats to stray away from reserved forest areas to find easy preys while ravines of Kathina river and vast stretches of sugarcane fields provide a safe haven to them.
