Maha: Woman killed by tiger; 50 dead in Chandrapur this year in big cat attacks

CHANDRAPUR, DEC 15: A 50-year-old woman was mauled to death by a tiger in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district in Thursday afternoon, a forest department official said.

Swaroopa Teletiwar was killed when she was plucking cotton in a field near Khadi village in Saoli range, some 60 kilometres from here, Chief Conservator of Forests Prakash Lonkar said.

In all, 50 persons have died this year in the district in attacks by big cats, another official said.

Forty-four of the attacks were by tigers and six by leopards, he said.

Maharashtra forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Thursday asked officials in his department to curb tiger-human conflicts in Chandrapur by taking appropriate steps.

Action would be taken against officials if they fail to curb tiger-human conflicts, a release quoted the minister as saying. He said “troublesome tigers” must be caged to give relief to people.

Mungantiwar is the guardian minister of Chandrapur.

-PTI