Panic has gripped some villages in Mysuru district after a tiger killed another man on Sunday, officials said.
The incident happened near Mullur village in Saraguru taluk, they added.
According to forest officials, 58-year-old Rajashekar Murthy, a cattle herder from Mullur, was attacked by a man-eating tiger while grazing his cattle in an open field in the afternoon.
This is the second fatal tiger attack in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home district Mysuru within a month.
Earlier, a man was killed in Badagalpura village. Forest Department officials in Hediyala, their staff, and Saraguru police rushed to the scene and camped in the area following the incident.
Angry villagers from Mullur and neighbouring villages staged protests, accusing the Forest Department of negligence and failing to capture the man-eating tiger despite repeated attacks.
Villagers pointed out that there is no forest area near Mullur, yet tigers have been frequently sighted in the vicinity. The department’s attempts to trace and trap the animal have so far proved unsuccessful.
Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has expressed his condolences over the death. Expressing shock over the increasing incidents of tiger attacks, the minister appealed to cattle grazers, residents of forest-fringe villages, and plantation workers to remain highly cautious whenever there is information about the movement of wild animals such as tigers, leopards, and elephants.
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Calling it a deeply painful incident, Khandre said he has directed officials to rush to the spot immediately, take urgent measures to capture the tiger that has tasted human blood, and provide compensation to the victim’s family.
In a separate incident in Maharashtra, a 45-year-old woman was mauled to death by a tiger in Chandrapur district this evening, a forest official said.
Alka Mahadev Pendor was working in her field in when the incident took place.
“Her mutilated body was found close to the field. This is the second death due to tiger attacks in the past eight days. Earlier, Bhauji Pal, a farmer from Chekpipri, was also killed,” he added.
