Pilibhit: Ram Murti Lal, 50, a farmer of Raniganj village under the Madhotanda police station in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) was mauled to death by a tiger, officials said.
The partially eaten body was recovered from Mala Forest range, approximately 1.5 km from the core forest area on Wednesday.
Village pradhan Bharat Lal said, “When he did not return till late in the evening, villagers, police and forest force entered the jungle searching for him and saw the tiger feasting on the body of the farmer. The tiger roared and dragged the body some yards but dropped it and vanished into the jungle when the search team made loud noises to scare it away.”
This is the second fatal encounter between man and tiger since June 27, when a 50-year-old farmer, Lalta Prasad of the same village, fell victim to an adult tiger while tending to his crops in the late evening hours. The tiger had devoured over 80 per cent of the body.
Naveen Khandelwal, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), said, “We cannot confirm whether this is the same tiger which is responsible for the June 27 incident in the village, as the current incident appears to have taken place within the forest area. There seems to be no apparent reason for the tiger to drag the body for 1.5 km if the attack occurred at the victim’s agricultural field.”
“While compensation is not given for human casualties resulting from tiger attacks within the core forest area, considering the deceased’s poor background as he owned less than half an acre of land, we will present his case to the state administration on humanitarian grounds,” the DFO added.
