Farmer dies in tiger attack outside Bandipur national park

MYSORE: A tiger from Bandipur national park attacked a farmer killing him on the spot in H D Kote on Wednesday leading to concern among the villagers in the forest fringes and the forest officials. The forest department has concluded that the big cat is not a man-eater given that it didn't bite its victim and escaped into the wild seconds after attacking the villager. However, it has now launched combing operation in the forest area in the region. At about 10.30am when B Basavaraju from Naadu Haadi, a tribal hamlet in predominantly tribal H D Kote taluk, was in his field, a tiger suddenly attacked him. He died on the spot, which is 300 meters outside the tiger reserve, director of Bandipur H C Kantharaju said. "Villagers have told us that the victim was attacked by the tiger and we found tiger pugmarks at the site," he told The Times of India. He, however, said the tiger has not targeted human. It hit on his head leading to his death. He might have survived had he sustained injuries on his body. If it had targeted the villager, it would have dragged the body inside. There are no biting marks on the victim's body, he stated. The conservator of forests said he has given Rs 1 lakh to the family of the deceased and awaiting for the post mortem report. The victims of wild animal attack are eligible for Rs 5 lakh compensation. This comes fifteen months after a tribal woman was killed by a big cat in the forest fringes bordering Bandipur. In August 2012, the tribal woman was mauled to death. Though it was suspected that an aged tiger, captured from Heballa days later, had killed the woman and turned man-eater, it was later established that it is not a man-eater. After it is shifted to the Mysore Zoo, when the zoo collected the samples and sent it for testing at Bangalore-based Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, it was proved that the tiger is not man-eater. The forest officials said that it is unlikely that any tiger in the area has turned into man-eater as the area has not witnessed any incidents of cattle attack. (Source : The Times of India)