Seven injured in Chandrapur tiger attack

CHANDRAPUR: A tiger strayed into a paddy field near Bothli village in Shirpur, stayed put there for almost 10 hours and injured seven people who chose to drive it away on Sunday. The seriously injured persons were shifted to Chimur hospital for treatment.

The villagers were apparently trying to drive the fully grown tiger away which moved out of the jungle. Despite efforts of forest and police officials to clear the crowd, hundreds of villagers kept the tiger besieged in the field throughout the day. Later in the evening the tiger went back into the jungle after the crowd dispersed.

People busy celebrating Independence Day were shocked when a tiger was spotted in the field adjacent to the busy Chimur-Navtala-Talodhi square close to Bothli in Chimur tehsil.

Soon the news spread and hundreds of people from adjoining villages gathered to see the beast. Officials from Talodhi forest range too rushed to the spot even as a team of policemen arrived to control the situation.

However, the mob went berserk and tried to scare the tiger away by pelting stones and poking sticks.

The mob could be controlled only after a two-member tranquillising team consisting of Kishore Mishrikot- kar and GK Vashishta, both assistant conservators of forests (ACFs) for wildlife, rushed to the spot from Nagpur. The team returned after confirming that the animal retreated into the forests.

The tiger attacked and injured as many as seven villagers, who went close to it in an attempt to drive it away. The injured include Mahesh Uike, Sampat Mandre, Seshraj Bawane, Keshav Bawane, Manohar Maske, Ishwar Atram and Pandhri Raut. The injured persons were taken to Chimur rural hospital. Later Uike and Mandhre were shifted to Nagpur, while others were moved to Chandrapur.

Confirming the incident DCF of Bramhapuri division Sanjay Thawre said that the mob was main obstacle in rescuing the tiger. "The mob kept the tiger trapped in the farm throughout the day. All our efforts to disperse them to make a clear passage for the tiger to move back into the jungle failed. Only after the crowd dispersed on its own in the evening did the tiger moved back into the jungle peacefully," said Thawre.

Asked about reports of the same tiger being seen close to Navtala village on Monday morning, he said that they had traced the pug-marks of the tiger retreating back into the jungle
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