Sharp rise in fatal tiger attacks in Vidarbha

The man-animal conflict in Vidarbha has led to a sharp rise in casualties this year.

Three deaths in tiger attacks in July so far have taken this year’s toll of tiger attack deaths to 25 in Vidarbha. Last year, it was 31. With more than five months left in this year, 2021 might turn out to be the worst year as far as tiger attacks are concerned.

At least 19 of these 25 fatal tiger attacks occurred in Chandrapur district, five in Gadchiroli district and one in Yavatmal district.

Apart from these, six people died in leopard attacks in the region this year. The latest occurred on Tuesday night when 61-year-old Gangabai Gedam from Vyahad village in Saoli forest range, Chandrapur was sleeping outside her house and was attacked by a leopard.

One person was also killed in a wild board attack in Chandrapur this year.

Of the three deaths in tiger attacks this month, two took place in Chandrapur district last week and one in Yavatmal district this week.

The neighboring Gadchiroli district, too, has seen six fatal tiger attacks this year in the Wadsa division as well as in Wadsa Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) areas.

Gadchiroli has become a new hotbed for man-tiger conflict since last year. The district, which had more than 100 tigers till the 1980s, had seen the disappearance of the big cat in subsequent years. But over the past five to six years, tigers have made a comeback in the district following migration of surplus tiger population from the adjoining Brahmapuri forest division in Chandrapur district, which is already the biggest man-tiger conflict hotspot in the state.