Tigers kill two more in Chandrapur, number of man-animal conflicts rises to 49
The first murder occurred on the edge of the forest near Rudrapur village. The victim, Baburao Kamble (60), a resident of Rudrapur, had gone early in the morning to the outskirts of his fields in the fringe forest area to answer the call of nature.
Chandrapur: Tigers killed two people in very different incidents in the district on Wednesday. Amid raging man-animal conflict in Chandrapur, the death toll in poacher attacks during the last 11-and-a-half months of this year has risen to 49, the highest for any year.
The first murder occurred on the edge of the forest near Rudrapur village. The victim, Baburao Kamble (60), a resident of Rudrapur, had gone early in the morning to the outskirts of his fields in the fringe forest area to answer the call of nature. A tiger also killed him and carried his body into a deep forest. Since Kamble did not return home for a long time, his family members started searching for him and also found blood stains at the very spot where he was responding to the call of nature.
Kamble’s family then informed the forest officials and they searched the surrounding area with the help of villagers but found his body 1.5 km deep inside the forest. This is the second case of a human being killed by a tiger in Saoli range within about a week. Kailash Gedekar (47), a farmer of Nilasni Pethgaon, was killed by a tiger on 6th December while working in the field.
Forest officials have provided ex-gratia amounts to the families of the victims
In another incident, Devrao Sopankar, a shepherd from Kantapeth in the Chichpalli range, died in the forest on Wednesday afternoon. Sopankar had taken his herd to the forest for grazing. In the afternoon the cattle returned to the village without the shepherd. The villagers also informed the forest officials, who searched the surroundings and found Sopankar’s body in compartment number 720 of the forest range.
Forest officials have provided ex-gratia amounts to the families of the victims in both these cases. They have also warned people about the presence of tigers and intensified patrolling in the area. Camera traps have also been placed around the places where the carcasses were found to identify the tigers responsible for the kill.
So far this year, hunters have killed 49 in the district. This includes 43 people killed by tigers, while six others fell prey to leopard attacks.
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