A 50-year-old Adivasi woman was killed in a tiger attack in Kuruvarpadi village in Masinagudi of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on Monday. The woman who went for cattle grazing along with three other people was attacked and dragged to a distance by a hiding tiger until the three people managed to chase away the wild animal.
According to forest officials, Gowri (50) and her husband Maadhan along with another couple from Kuruvarpadi village went for cattle grazing into a buffer forest zone. A tiger hiding in a thick bush jumped out and held Gowri and dragged her to a distance. Immediately, Maadhan and the two others made sounds following which the tiger fled the spot. However, Gowri succumbed on the spot due to the injury caused by the animal. She is survived by her husband, two daughters and a son.
This is the first conflict with a tiger that has resulted in the death of a woman in Masinagudi, said Forest Department officials.
Speaking to TNM, Deputy Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (buffer zone) LCS Srikanth said, “The attack happened inside the forest area. The tribal people near Masinagudi traditionally go for cattle grazing inside the forest. We do not give them permission but they still go for grazing. We advise them not to go but they still go since it’s their only occupation.”
On the next course of action, the Deputy Director said that the department has placed some camera traps in the region. “First we want to identify the tiger. We have numbers for all the tigers and we want to know which tiger killed the woman so that we can monitor that particular animal. We are planning to monitor the daily activity of the tiger. We have formed a special team to monitor the tiger movement for at least one week,” said Srikanth.
The Deputy Director said that with the help of Tahsildar they have already started making announcements in the village requesting people to refrain from going into the forest for cattle grazing due to the tiger attack.