Two killed in tiger attack in PTR, probe ordered
A third person - a friend of the two killed - saved himself by climbing a tree and spending the night there.
Two people were killed, allegedly in a tiger attack, in the Deoria range of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) late on Sunday night, forest officials said on Monday. A friend of the deceased who was travelling with them escaped the attack by climbing a nearby tree where he stayed perched through the night.
Three men, Kandai Pal, 27, Sonu Pal, 22 and 23-year-old Vikas, were returning on a motorbike to their village in Pilibhit from nearby Shahjahanpur district via the Deoria range of PTR. The trio reached the barrier on the road passing through the PTR at around 9 pm. The forest guards present at the barrier warned them about the movement of a female tiger in the area which had been spotted with her cubs.
“The trio neglected the warning and drove ahead on the road which passes through the forest. They were reportedly attacked by a tiger. The big cat killed Kandai and Sonu while Vikas managed to climb a nearby tree,” said Lallan Singh, circle officer of the area.
The matter came to light when some locals passing through the road during the day spotted the bodies and informed the police. According to locals, Kandai and Sonu had visible paw injuries on their neck, face and chest. The locals also helped shell-shocked Vikas to come down from the tree. A team from the nearby police station that reached the spot recovered the bodies which were later sent for a post-mortem examination. The police team has admitted Vikas in a nearby hospital.
“Vikas is in a state of shock. He informed us and a team of forest department about the tiger attack. We are investigating the matter,” the CO said.
Meanwhile, forest officials are trying to identify and locate the big cat involved in the attack. “A female tiger was spotted in the area a few days ago so it is being suspected that she was behind the attack. Our teams are trying to locate it. Villagers in the nearby area have also been alerted about the animal and measures are being taken to mitigate any possibility of man-tiger conflict,” said Naveen Khandelwal, deputy director, PTR.
This is the first incident of man-animal conflict reported in the PTR following a slump in such cases lately. As many as 29 people have been killed in man-tiger conflicts in PTR since 2017.
