Maharashtra: 53-year-old man killed by tiger in Chandrapur forest

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A 53-year-old man was reportedly killed by a tiger in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra on Monday, a forest department official said, according to the PTI.

The man, identified as Manohar Vani, a school bus driver from Babupeth area, was reportedly attacked in the morning when he had gone to pray at a Shani temple in compartment number 484 of Lohara beat in Chandrapur forest division, he said.

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"Camera traps have been installed and a primary response team (PRT) has been deployed in the area. Forest teams will ask villagers not to go to the part of the forest where the incident took place," the official informed, as per the PTI.

Appropriate action to avert such incidents will be taken after the tiger responsible for the attack is identified, he added.

While 24 deaths have been reported in man-animal conflicts in the region this year, the figure was 53 for last year, the official said, as per the PTI.

Meanwhile, the remains of a tiger have been found in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in eastern Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, a senior forest officer said on Saturday, reported the PTI.

Tigress T-12, popularly known as Maya, had gone missing from the reserve in August, and the report of DNA tests were awaited for ascertaining if these were her remains, he said, as per the PTI.

The remains, scattered in an area of 100-meter radius, were found in the Tadoba beat of the reserve a couple of days ago, said Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar, field director of TATR, according to the PTI.

The big cat had apparently died due to natural causes considering the location of the remains and absence of any human activity in the area, he added.

The samples will be sent for DNA analysis to the National Centre for Biological Sciences and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Bangalore to be matched with DNA samples of Maya, he said.

The reports were expected by November 30, he added.

Earlier this month, despite installing over 100 cameras to monitor the activities of Maya, the renowned tigress of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), she has not been spotted in any of the camera traps for two weeks. As a result, the TATR authorities are extending their search for her to the surrounding buffer areas.

(with PTI inputs)