The team reached Nagabandha after being informed that the tiger had lifted a piglet from here. Subsequently, early morning yesterday one person was also killed.
“A local woman attacked by the tiger in the morning yesterday succumbed to her injuries. The tiger then went and hid in the paddy fields nearby; as we carried out our searches to sedate it, it took refuge in a nearby house,” said Dr Choudhury.
Unfortunately, however, the team did not get any opportunity at tranquilising the tiger, as the crowd of hundreds of angry spectators refused to disperse despite requests from the civil authorities. Local people armed with sticks and sharp weapons surrounded the house in which the tiger remained hidden and pelted it with stones. The tiger was shot dead by the police as it attacked and killed another person while attempting to escape.
“Generally, to control these kinds of situations, managing the crowd is crucial to let the experts carry out their work,” said Dr Rathin Barman, Coordinator, WTI, citing examples of two tiger rescue operations involving IFAW-WTI veterinarians. “In March last year, one of our vets deployed to tranquilise a tiger in Jakhalabandha near Kaziranga National Park was accidentally shot and severely injured as the situation turned chaotic; the tiger was killed then too. Alternatively, in another case in April this year when the people were cooperative, we assisted the Forest Department in successful capture of a tiger that had killed two people in Sibsagar; the tiger was radio-collared and subsequently released in Manas National Park and is currently being monitored by our team.”
Among other successful tiger rescues in Assam, IFAW-WTI had in 2004 assisted the Forest Department in the capture and release of two tiger cubs that had ‘strayed’ into human settlements. In 2008, a tiger that had fallen into a well near Tezpur town was tranquilised, relocated to Nameri and released.
