A man and his grandson have been mauled to death in separate Bengal tiger attacks within 12 hours of each other.
The first victim, 12-year-old Chethan was killed in a tiger attack on the evening of February 12 while harvesting coffee at a plantation adjoining a forest in Karnataka, southern India.
Just hours later, on February 13, his grandfather – identified as Raju, a 75-year-old tribal man – was attacked in the same area near Nagarahole National Park.
Raju was at his grandson’s house for the funeral and reportedly stepped outside around 6.30am to relieve himself. It was said the tiger grabbed him by the head and killed him.
The tragedy continued as another family member, 56-year-old Jayamma, died of shock after hearing about the deaths, the Hindustan Times reported.
It is believed the pair were killed by the same animal, with both incidents taking place within 500 metres of each other and around a kilometre from the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary.
The boy’s father, the grandfather’s son, was reportedly injured in the first attack and is now recovering in hospital.
The Hindustan Times reported that the parents of the boy were immediately distributed a cheque by forest officers for ₹2.5 lakh (around £2,500) following the first incident.
An operation was soon underway to capture the deadly animal and prevent further attacks in the area.
Locals assumed the tiger in question to be aged and unable to hunt other animals, causing it to maul humans instead. Locals said there was no other option but to kill the tiger after it turned on humans for food.
The Bengal tiger was also believed to be injured at this point as both the teenager and grandad has reportedly tried to beat the big cat off before they were killed.
B.N. Murthy, the Conservator of Forests for the Kodagu Circle, said nearly 250 forest personnel had joined together to track down the man-eating animal.
The group used 30 trap cameras around the area, with three cages, and five elephants to capture the Bengal tiger.
It is understood the search team tranquillised the man-eating tiger, thought to be around 13-years-old, before capturing the animal.
This was the seventh attack by big cats in the region since October 2021 as a result of both tigers and leopards.
This article by Christian Oliver was first published by The Daily Mail on 15 February 2023. Lead Image: It’s believed the search team tranquillised the nine-year-old tiger, before capturing the animal.
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