Tigress ‘attack’ sparks tension in Angul village

ANGUL: Death of a person at Tansi village, allegedly killed by tigress Sundari, which was translocated from Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia Tiger Reserve, sparked fresh turmoil in the region on Sunday with villagers engaging in a pitched battle with police and vandalising public property.

Tension prevailed in the area as villagers blocked the National Highway 55 with the dead body to protest the alleged human kill and demanding immediate shifting of the tigress out of the reserve.With protests threatening to go out of control, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the agitators. But the villagers retaliated by heavy stone-pelting and also set a police bus and other vehicles on fire.

The police had to fire in the air to drive away the mob and restore normalcy. Several people including some policemen were injured in the incident.

According to sources, one 65-year-old Trinath Sahu had gone to the forest near the village, about 40 kms from Angul town, at around 6.30 am when Sundari, which was in the vicinity since Saturday evening, pounced on him and dragged him away. Some villagers, who were nearby, saw her killing Trinath and eating his body. As they shouted and rushed to the spot, the tigress sprang away leaving the body. A TV journalist and two villagers, who went near the tigress, were also reportedly attacked and injured.

The incident triggered protest by the villagers who attacked a forest tracking team and locked one ACF and two range officers in a house. Even after a police team led by SP M Mahapatra reached the village and tried to pacify the people, they did not release the forest officials.

As the stand-off between the villagers and the police team continued, the former took the body to the NH and staged a road blockade. “We have been demanding the tigress to be shifted out of Satkosia Tiger Reserve but the district administration has turned it down stating that the tigress is not a threat to us. Now in front of us, the tigress killed and ate a man. We demand `50 lakh as compensation and shifting of the tigress,” said Khirod Sahu, a villager.

Repeated calls to Additional Chief Conservator of Forests Sudarshan Panda and DFO V Kartik yielded no response. A forest official, however, described the incident as unfortunate. He said the villagers released the officials kept in captivity following intervention by forest officials. The secretary of Citizen Action Committee Bijay Mishra also demanded shifting of the tigress.

Chief Wildlife Warden Sambit Tripathy said the tranquilisation team constituted for such exisgencies has already proceeded to Satkosia for capturing the tigress. Further follow up action would be taken after due consultation with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Government of India and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, he said and added that a compensation of `4 lakh has been sanctioned for the next of kin of the killed.

On September 12, Sundari had allegedly killed one Kailash Sai of Hatibari village which was, however, not confirmed by post-mortem report. The tigress had also reportedly killed three cattle after she was released into the wild from the enclosure on August 17.