Tribal killed in tiger attack in Asifabad

Hyderabad: A 21-year-old tribal youth was killed in a tiger attack when he went to the forest with his cattle in Asifabad on Wednesday. The incident took place on the outskirts of Digida village in Dahegaon mandal of the Asifabad district. The badly mauled body of the man, identified as Sidam Vignesh, was found later by the villagers.

Forest department sources said three tribal youth had taken their cattle to the forest for grazing when a tiger attacked Sidam. The other two youths fled, while Sidam was dragged away by the tiger. The two boys alerted the villagers who gathered in large numbers and searched for the youth. The villagers later found the body of Vignesh. The big cat seemed to have eaten some flesh and abandoned the body.

Tigers from the Tadoba-Andheri Tiger Reserve were known to shift to the adjoining forest areas of Asifabad and Kagaznagar in recent times. The movement of the tiger has led to panic, especially among those living in the villagers on fringes of the forest. Rebbena Forest Range Officer Purnima confirmed that a tiger killed a youth. She, however, said that it was yet to be ascertained whether the youth had provoked the tiger.Locals tend to take photos and videos of the tigers to share it on social media platforms and this irritates the big cats and they, in turn, attack the humans, officials said. The man-animal conflict was also documented by the Forest officials many years back.