OUR CORRESPONDENT
Guwahati, Jan. 4: A 16-year-old boy was mauled by a tiger at Kaziranga National Park this morning when he was tending to his cattle.
A senior park official said Saibur Rahman, a resident of Bhujmari village, was attacked around 10.30am.
“The high density of tigers… is leading to increased tiger-human conflict incidents,” a forest official said.
Experts said given the high density of tigers in the national park, incidents like this will happen.
A camera-trapping study of tigers carried out has reported that there are 32 tigers per 100sqkm of the national park, the highest in the world.
The usual density of tigers varies from 3-12 per 100sqkm in different reserves throughout the country.
The study had said one of the key reasons for the high tiger density in Kaziranga is an abundance of prey, including hog deer, sambar, swamp deer and wild buffalo.
Villagers found Saibur’s body today and cremated him.
The forest official said park employees have been deployed in the area where the tiger has attacked Saibur to monitor the animals.
If only someone would explain to the said forest official, that it is not high density of tigers but lack of space for them. Tigers cannot live with humans and we keep forcing them to by encroaching on the minuscule space they have. I wonder when and if ever will the government wake up and take notice.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for maintaining this blog. This is one of my prime sources of information and updates on the fate of the tiger.
I love wildlife.