Tigress kills man in Satkosia Sanctuary, locals stage protest

A man was allegedly mauled to death by the Royal Bengal Tigress 'Sundari' at Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha's Angul district on Sunday morning, police said.

The tigress was brought from Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh on June 28 and released into the core area of Satkosia Tiger Reserve on August 18.

The deceased was identified as Trinath Sahu (60), who had gone for fishing when the tigress allegedly attacked him, officials said, adding that the victim belonged to nearby Tainsi village.

The forest department has sent a team to capture the tigress. "The tranquillisation team constituted for such exigencies has already proceeded to Satkosia (to capture the tigress)," Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, Sandip Tripathy told PTI.

Tripathy said further follow up action would be taken after due consultation with National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

"The compensation of Rs 4 lakh has been sanctioned for the next of kin of the deceased person," Tripathy said.

This was the second person who was allegedly killed by the tigress. Earlier Sundari had killed a woman Kailashi Sai of Hatibari village on September 12, officials said.

Following the death of the woman, irate villagers had ransacked the Dhandatopa Forest Beat House and Tikarpara Forest Range Office and set them on fire.

Meanwhile, tension gripped Satkosia area after the death of Trinath Sahu. The villagers allegedly thrashed and detained an Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Srikant Behera, who had gone to Tainsi village in the morning to verify the incident.

The ACF was later released by the villagers, police said.

"Some forest officials were detained and attacked by the villagers," said Angul Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) V Kartik