Post News Network
Narsinghpur, Feb 13: Panic gripped residents in Talapunji village here in Cuttack district after villagers found three of their cattle killed by a tiger inside Debabhumi reserve forest Friday.
The dead cattle were found lying in Bhaliaguda beat compartment-12 region of the reserve forest where the villagers noticed the pugmarks of the tiger and the claw marks on the neck of the dead cattle. On being informed, divisional forest officer (DFO) Arun Kumar Mishra, ranger Uttam Gadnaik and their team reached the spot and started an investigation.
Later, two tiger experts Nimain Charan Palei and Bhakta Padarbinda Rath rushed in from Bhubaneswar and collected the pugmarks of the tiger. They interacted with locals and forest officials and tried to ascertain the age of the tiger and the route of the movements of the tiger which they suspect is regularly covering around 50 km.
They suspected the tiger from Satkosia sanctuary might have made its way to the jungle through Barasinga, Balikiari reserve forest and finally through Budhabudhi ghat.
Mishra warned the villagers to stay away from the jungle border and not to venture inside the forest. He also asked them not to leave their cattle for grazing inside the forest. Two months back, the forest officials had collected the photograph of a tiger through CCTV cameras installed in the forest. The video footage had clearly established about the presence of a tiger. DFO Arun Mishra assured the villagers to provide them compensation after an enquiry. The incident has triggered similar panic in 19 other surrounding villages.
