Chennai: The man-eating tiger that killed a woman worker recently has been shot dead near Gudalur in the Nilgiris District in Tamil Nadu.
The big cat believed to be eight to ten years old was found at a private tea estate in Mukkatti. Forest officers claim their attempts to tranquilise the animal failed. They shot him dead when the tiger pounced, targeting people.
On Saturday, 34-year-old Mahalakshmi was killed by the tiger, when she was working at a tea estate close to the forest area near Gudalur. The same day, the tiger had also attacked a man, Ritish, who is now recovering at a hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode.
The next day, hundreds of angry local people torched a few government vehicles in the area and demanded the killing of the animal. They also asked for enhanced compensation of Rs. 10 lakh. The government had announced compensation of Rs. 3 lakh for the victim’s family.
District Collector P Shankar said, “It is a big relief for us. The STF (Special Task Force) team had shot him dead. Normally tigers do not come to the trap unless they are too weak or hungry, and hence, they had to shoot him dead.”
The district administration had shut five schools in the area for three days, and had also suspended work at tea gardens in the region.
Last year too, one man-eating tiger was shot dead after it killed three people in the Nilgiris, which is in the northwestern part of Tamil Nadu, bordering Kerala and Karnataka.
