Tiger
Tiger

12-year-old boy killed by tiger in Kodagu, third death in three weeks

The region has seen an increased number of man-animal conflicts over the past few months.

A 12-year-old boy was mauled to death by a tiger on Monday morning in Kodagu district of Karnataka. The case marks the third such casualty in the region in less than three weeks. “The tragedy occurred around 8:30-9:00 am today morning in a coffee plantation in Belur village in Ponnampet range,” Hiralal, Chief Conservator of Forest and senior IFS officer, told TNM.

Monday’s tragedy adds to a number of reports of man-animal conflicts that have recently taken place in the forest-rich district, which is flocked by tourists all through the year. It was reported that in late February, two persons were killed in tiger attacks. Among them was a 16-year-old boy named Aiyappa, the son of a plantation worker, who was killed by a tiger on February 20. He was attacked when he was out to collect firewood at night. In the second attack, a coffee estate worker was mauled to death by a tiger when she was at a field to answer nature’s call in the wee hours of February 21. The two incidents were reported within 2 km of each other within the Ponnampet taluk, which led to the suspicion that the same tiger was behind the two incidents.

Later, on the afternoon of February 21, the tiger was captured by forest authorities with the help of trained elephants. It was found that the tigress, who is around nine years old, had an injury on her right paw. Officials had said that that was the reason that the tiger had taken to killing humans.

Wildlife activists say that the recurrence of man-animal conflicts is increasing day by day due to the degradation of habitat of wild animals, increased encroachment of forests and cutting off of the migration path of wild animals due to unplanned development projects.

Other than tigers, the region has also seen instances of increased man-animal conflicts involving leopards and elephants.

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