Pilibhit: A 25-year-old villager, Khemkaran, was mauled by a tigress in Mahua village under Gajraula police station around 1.30 PM on Tuesday. The tigress was lurking in the sugarcane field which the victim and his father were irrigating. It fled after the victim’s father brandished a shovel and raised an alarm. The villager, who sustained claw injuries in his left leg, was taken to Pilibhit district hospital.The victim said that the tigress had already sunk its claws in his legs when his father came to his rescue. It also attempted to attack his father but retreated when villagers rushed to their help. He also said that the ambulance reached him an hour late and he reached the hospital around 3:45 pm.The tigress has already killed cattle in the area but was not driven back to the forest. PTR authorities had installed camera traps to monitor her movement but couldn’t do anything to stop it.“Presently, the movement of another tiger is also being reported in a cluster of villages including Narayan Ther, Maktul and Jar Kalliya, which are situated at around 10 to 12 kilometers from the forest of Mala range,” said Rishi Dev, a forester (forest inspector) posted in Mala forest range.While the deputy director of PTR, Adarsh Kumar, said that the forest department was keeping a close eye on the stray tiger near Mala forest range as well as a leopard posing a threat to residents of Bundi Bhood, it was not possible for the department to “tranquilize and quarantine every stray tiger.”“We have advised villagers not to irritate the big cats in any way, while remaining alert and focused on safety measures. This will let the stray big cats return to their habitat in natural way,” Kumar added.

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