Hyderabad: Within 24 hours of mauling a 21-year-old tribal woman to death in Kagaznagar mandal, the tiger struck again by attacking a 30-year-old man in Dubbaguda mandal in Sirpur (Tandur) in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district on Saturday morning.
The big cat pounced on Routhu Suresh while he was picking cotton in an agricultural field. Suresh was rushed to a private hospital in Kagaznagar with injuries on his neck. Forest officials, who spoke to Suresh in the hospital, said he is out of danger but is under observation. The officials also visited the spot where the tiger attacked Suresh.
Suresh was caught unawares as he did not notice the movement of the tiger. Suresh's family members, who were at the spot at the time of the attack, raised an alarm even as Suresh tried to wriggle himself out of the clasp of the tiger. As a result of the commotion, the wild animal left the place.
The tiger, which attacked and killed Morle Laxmi at Nazrulnagar near Gannavaram village on Friday, walked nearly 25 km before attacking Suresh, forest officials said. In both the instances, the tiger pounced on its victims who were bent and picking cotton in the fields, an official said.
"After the incident on Nov 29, the movement of the tiger was not captured on any of the camera traps. It is clear that it is looking for a place to settle down but does not find the forest area conducive enough. The tiger may have attacked both the persons assuming them to be carnivorous animals as they had bent to pick cotton," Kawal Tiger Reserve field director S Shantharam said.
He told STOI that despite the two attacks, the tiger could not be described as a ‘man-eater'.
"The tiger is possibly headed back to Tadoba in Maharashtra from where it came. It seems to be retracing the path it took to come," he said.
After Laxmi was killed on Friday, local revenue authorities issued prohibitory orders asking people not to venture into the fields because of tiger movement in the area.