GUWAHATI: An adult Royal Bengal Tiger, which strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park and made its way into a village, was gunned down by the forest guards in “self-defence”.
Kaziranga Field Director, P Sivakumar told The New Indian Express that the matter was being investigated. Narrating the incident, he said the 10-year-old big cat had strayed out looking for easy prey.
“The incident occurred at a village on the park’s fringe area. The tiger had killed a buffalo there two days ago and reappeared last (Thursday) evening. A team of forest guards was sent to the place after the locals had informed us about the animal’s presence. Once, the tiger and the forest guards came very close to each other and the tiger tried to attack them. They had no other option and they fired in self-defence,” Sivakumar said.
He said since the tiger was old, it possibly could not hunt in the wild and strayed out looking for livestock.
“We are conducting an inquiry. We will take action if there were any lapses on the part of the forest guards,” he added.