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Big cat attacks in Lakhimpur: Woman killed, man injured in two separate incidents near Dudhwa Buffer Zone
Kirti Chaudhari, deputy director, Dudhwa buffer zone, told HT that “the mutilated dead body of the woman was recovered on Sunday morning.”
A 35-year-old woman, Usha Devi, a resident of Bhidauri, a hamlet of Mahrajnagar village under Tikonia kotwali limits, was killed in a big cat attack late on Saturday night in the north Nighasan forest range of the Dudhwa buffer zone. In a separate attack in the Majhgain forest range of the buffer zone, a 60-year-old man was injured on his back.
Usha, along with a fellow villager, Gondhani Devi, had gone to the fields on Saturday evening to collect fodder. While both were collecting fodder in a sugarcane field, a big cat suddenly attacked Usha and dragged her deep inside the dense cane fields.
Gondhani Devi raised an alarm and shouted for help, prompting local villagers to rush to the spot and attempt a search. However, owing to the darkness and dense cane fields, Usha could not be traced.
Dudhwa buffer zone officials also arrived and carried out a search operation with drones, but to no avail.
Kirti Chaudhari, deputy director, Dudhwa buffer zone, told HT that “the mutilated dead body of the woman was recovered on Sunday morning.”
She added the spot was in close proximity to the buffer zone reserved forests. She said patrolling teams had been deployed to monitor the movements of the big cats, adding that cameras would be set up to identify the animal.
Villagers claimed the big cat was a tiger. However, Chaudhary said the identity of the animal could not be established as its pugmarks had been trampled by the crowd of local villagers.
She said the victim’s body had been sent for a postmortem examination, and due compensation would be provided to the aggrieved family after the postmortem report.
Meanwhile, in the Majhgain forest range of the buffer zone, a 60-year-old man, Wajid, was injured on his back and a hand when a tiger suddenly charged at him near Bela village while he was working in his field on Saturday.
He was lucky to have survived the attack; the tiger ran back into the neighbouring forests following the presence of other villagers there.
Deputy director Kirti Chaudhary confirmed the attack, adding that the injured person was promptly rushed to a local health center, where he was discharged after treatment. She added that his condition was reported to be safe.
