Woman killed in tiger attack in Masinagudi

COIMBATORE: A 69-year-old tribal woman was killed in a tiger attack near Masinagudi in the Nilgiris on Monday, triggering a protest by villagers.

The deceased, identified by the forest department as Nagiammal, wife of Balan from Mavanallah in Masinagudi panchayat, took her cattle to graze near a canal adjoining the forest in the morning. In the afternoon, a youth was shocked to find a tiger dragging the body of a woman into a bush and alerted the villagers.

As Nagiammal went missing, the panicked villagers launched a search, along with police sleuths and forest department personnel. They spotted a tiger, which eventually fled into the forest. The villagers then recovered the body of the elderly woman in a gruesome state. Her head was found severed.

When the forest department attempted to take the body for a post-mortem, the villagers put up a stiff resistance and sought immediate action to capture the tiger to ensure their safety. Gudalur AIADMK MLA Pon Jayaseelan led the protest by villagers.

A team comprising MG Ganesan, Deputy Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), Gudalur DSP Vasanthakumar and other officials assured to install surveillance cameras in the locality to monitor the movement of the tiger.

Following their assurance, the villagers withdrew the protest, and then the woman’s body was sent to Ooty Government Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem. Meanwhile, camera traps were installed and monitoring was stepped up.

It was in the year 2021, a tiger identified as ‘man-eater’ (MDT23) was captured alive after it was involved in multiple incidents of attacks on people and cattle in Gudalur. The carnivore was tranquillised and sent to a zoo in Mysuru in Karnataka.