Tiger strays into Assam tea garden, kills two
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Jorhat: A Royal Bengal tiger triggered panic and anger on Monday after it strayed into a tea garden settlement in Sivasagar district and attacked as many as four persons, two of whom died.
At 5.30 am, the big cat entered the Athkhel tea garden in the Sivasagar forest range and attacked Manglu Mirdha and his 12-year-old daughter Rita. While the girl died on the spot, her father was badly wounded, said assistant conservator of forests (Sivasagar) Ranjit Das.
Hearing Rita’s screams, one of her neighbours, Saraswati Southal (31), stepped out of her house only to be attacked by the adult tiger. Saraswati succumbed to her injuries while being taken to Assam Medical College (AMC), Dibrugarh.
Later, the animal attacked two others — Karuna Tanti (50) and Uma Mattu Southal (26). Both have been admitted to AMC. Their condition is serious.
As the news spread, more than 2,000 people armed with spears, bows and sticks rushed to the site to battle the big cat. Senior district officials rushed to the area along with a large contingent of policemen to control the situation and help forest personnel tranquillise the animal.
Veterinarian Prasanta Bora and Prabhat Hazarika (dart-shooter) from the Centre of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation managed to sedate the tiger and cage it after toiling for nearly six hours as they couldn’t see the animal well, which had taken shelter in the dark corner of a house.
The assistant conservator of forests said police and forest staff had a tough time controlling the angry residents, who were baying for the animal’s blood. He added that the tiger might have got panicky and entered the house to escape the wrath of the villagers.
Sivasagar deputy commissioner N M Hussain said it was “a very unexpected incident” because there had been no reports of a Royal Bengal tiger being spotted in the region. There have, however, been instances of leopards straying into human settlements here.
“The situation in the area was very tense after the tiger attacked residents. We had a tough time containing the people,” Hussain said.
After six shots, the tiger became unconscious and was caged. The animal was taken to a nearby police camp and would be sent to the Centre for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation at night, the official said.
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