MYSORE, November 28: A farmer was mauled to death by a tiger at Nadadi village in H.D.Kote taluk of Mysore district on Wednesday.
The victim was identified as Basavaraju (45), was working in his fields when he was attacked by a tiger at around 11 a.m. and died of head injuries sustained in the process.
K.C.Kantharaj, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, said that the incident took place about 300 meters outside the boundaries of the Bandipur National Park limits and another farmer who was tilling the land using a tractor, claimed to be have seen the animal and identified it as tiger.
“Our staff have gone to the village to study the pug marks to ascertain if the animal was indeed a tiger”, said Mr.Kantharaj.
He said the Department will compensate the surviving family members of Basavaraju and release Rs.5 lakh in cash. “While Rs.one lakh will be given today (Wednesday), the balance amount will be released after the completion of post-mortem and investigation into the incident”, Mr.Kantharaj added.
H.D.Kote taluk abuts both Bandipur and Nagarahole national parks and man-animal conflict is intense in the region. However, it was confined to elephants straying from the habitats in search of fodder and water while leopard population even outside the national park given its capacity to adapt itself to the shrub vegetation and agricultural fields. But it is for the first time that a man has been killed in a tiger attack on the boundaries of either Bandipur or Nagarahole in recent years though livestock coming under tiger attack was reported a couple of months ago.
