Man-eater strikes in Pilibhit again

LUCKNOW - A man-eater, which has been on the prowl in and around the jungles of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, made its sixth kill in a village of the district.

Redawati Devi, 55, fell victim to the big cat when she stepped into the woods in search of firewood required for her daily chores.

Parts of her badly mauled and half-devoured body were recovered after an extensive hunt by a team of wildlife officials late Tuesday.

Even though wildlife officials admit that Redawati Devi was the sixth victim of a tiger attack in the past four months, they said they were still not in a position to declare the big cat as a “man-eater”.

State chief wild life conservator B.K. Patnaik told IANS: “We cannot affirm that the tiger has turned into a man-eater unless we have confirmation that this was the same animal that has been striking in this vicinity over the past few months.”

“Rain and slush have made it impossible for our teams to get a clear picture of the pug-marks of the animal. However, we have managed to collect some hair of the tiger from the site where it fed on its victim; and this hair would be sent for DNA analysis so that it could be matched with previous records.”

Prima facie, he suspects that the attacking animal was a young tiger who should not have any reason to turn man-eater.

“Tigers turn into man-eaters largely on account of old-age or injury, which impairs their capacity to get hold of their natural prey” he said.

“Considering that this one appears to be a young animal, we have to find out why it has been attacking human beings, while we also need to confirm whether there is only one or more than one tiger active in the area,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to official records available with wildlife authorities, each of the six kills over the past four months were made within a radius of four km. While the first one was reported May 3, it was followed by more kills June 7, June 23, July 25, July 27 and the latest one Tuesday.