PATNA: A 45-year-old woman was mauled to death after being attacked by a wild tiger in Bihar's West Champaran district, near the Uttar Pradesh border, on Friday, marking the second fatal tiger attack in the area within 24 hours.
The incident occurred when the deceased, identified as Umrawati Devi, was working in a paddy field under the Madanpur forest range of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR). She was a resident of Ward Number 13 under the Naurangia police station limits.
Eyewitnesses told forest department officials that the tiger emerged from a sugarcane field, grabbed her by the neck and dragged her towards the forest. Local residents raised an alarm and began searching for the victim.
The residents attacked the tiger with sticks, forcing the big cat to abandon the woman. However, by the time they rescued her, she had died.
The deceased's husband, Ramayan Chaudhary, said that his wife used to work in the agricultural fields and had never faced any such untoward incident before.
According to local residents, this was the second attack on a human by a wild tiger in the past 24 hours. On July 30, a 65 year old man, identified as Aklu Yadav, was allegedly attacked by a tiger while grazing his goats in a field.
Yadav sustained severe injuries in the attack and was rushed to a hospital in Gorakhpur, where he died during treatment on Friday.
The incidents have left residents of nearby areas shocked as the number of attacks on humans by big cats has increased in recent times.
Forest Range Officer of the Madanpur range, Naseem Ansari, said patrolling in nearby villages had been intensified following the attacks by wild animals near human settlements.
They are warning residents through a public address system to enter fields only in large groups and avoid paths along the forest boundary.
In addition, a five member tiger tracker team has been put on alert. "We are keeping a close watch in nearby hamlets," forest conservator Gaurav Ojha said.
On Thursday, the carcass of a 10 year old male tiger was recovered from an area under the Madanpur forest range. The body has been sent for a postmortem.
A territorial fight is suspected to be behind the tiger's death.