New Delhi: Amid the nationwide lockdown, two villagers had an accidental encounter with an adult male tiger in Lalpur village of Pilibhit district on Friday afternoon which left them wounded. Soon after, the tiger nearly attacked a team of forest officials and veterinarians who were keeping a watch on the wild cat while it sat under a bush. The team had to fire shots in the air after the tiger came close to their vehicle.
The tiger was put under watch of the forest officials and police until Friday midnight and sources confirmed that it went back into the Pilibhit tiger reserve. This was confirmed based on pugmarks of the animal.
Two videos of the incident, one of the government team nearly getting attacked and another of them throwing something at the tiger, were shot by local villagers. In one of the videos, startled villagers scream as they see the tiger approaching the team tractor that is mounted with a cage. The tiger jumps on the front of the tractor and almost reaches close standing inside the cage wielding a bamboo stick. The tiger snaps the stick into two and then goes away into the bushes even as people in the background stop and shoot videos.
The accidental encounter between the tiger and the two villagers occurred around 12.30pm when the tiger was sitting under a bush close to a canal and the villagers were passing by. Unbeknownst to them, the villagers came close to the tiger that leapt at them and left them with lacerations on the thigh and back.
“The incident happened close to the Mala range of the Pilibhit tiger reserve. The area where the tiger was sitting close to the canal is often used by wildlife as a corridor to move between two forest patches. The canal is flanked on either side by service roads. The next incident happened around 3.30 pm when the tiger came close to our team,” said Lalit Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest, Rohilkhand zone.
After the accidental encounter between the villagers and the tiger, the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police visited the spot. Later, a team of foresters and two veterinarians from the animal husbandry department went in a tractor mounted cage rescue car to keep a watch, according to Verma.
In one of the videos, it appears that a member of the team is throwing something in the direction of the tiger which cannot be seen in the video. When asked why things were being hurled towards the tiger, Verma said, “It was not clear if the tiger was hurt when it was sitting in the bushes. They were throwing lumps of soil towards it to check if it is alright,” Verma said. The field director of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve could not be reached for a comment.
Comments
0 comment