DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand forest department has confirmed that a tigress had attacked and killed two persons in June near Jim Corbett National Park, expressing concerns over the growing human-wildlife conflict.
It says the female tiger, known for a designated area movement in the forest, had expanded its territory.
“Two cases of tiger attacks on humans were reported on June 15 and 17, this year in Sarpaduli range under Corbett Tiger Reserve. After the incident, personnel of Corbett Tiger Reserve tranquilised and captured a female tiger,” said Chief Wildlife Warden Sameer Sinha. According to him ecological evidence based on a study of camera traps found this female tiger guilty of the incident.
“Samples of the female tiger were sent to Hyderabad for DNA test. The June 15 victim’s samples too were sent for examination. The report was received on Sept 20, in which the DNA of both the samples matched, confirming that the tigress caught on July 8 was responsible for the incident.”
After the 2018 census, the big cat population in Uttarakhand was 442. In Corbett Park alone, 252 tigers were reported. Besides, 125 tigers were found in five forest divisions of western circle bordering Nepal.
Four tigers are seen in a radius of 10km continuously in the Fatehpur range. Conservator of Forests Deep Chandra Arya says that earlier it was believed that the tiger’s jurisdiction is only 20-25 sq km.
Director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve Saket Badola said the leopard prefers an edge-type area before targeting its prey. On the other hand, a tiger feels more comfortable in a dense forest area. Forest sources say in the last five years, 77 people have died in leopard attacks.
The death of innocents and villagers due to leopard attacks in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand continues unabated. Two days ago, a leopard targeted a three-year-old girl while she was in her mother’s lap at her courtyard and later killed her in the forest.
The issue has forced many to leave the villages.
Migration has not stopped in many villages of Pokhara and Ekeshwar development blocks. The people of Bharatpur village of Mazgaon gram panchayat of Pokhara development block thought it better to leave the village instead of becoming a victim of the leopard.