COIMBATORE: A 57-year-old tribal farmer was killed in a suspected tiger attack near Shooting Mattam in the Nilgiris on Tuesday.
The incident sparked protests by villagers and briefly disrupted traffic on the hillpath. This follows recent spotting of big cats prowling in neighbourhoods.
The victim was identified as Sabushtal Kuttan of the Toda tribal community. He had gone missing on Monday evening and was found dead in a forest patch near Chinnagadamund tribal settlement on Tuesday morning.
Villagers discovered the partially consumed body and alerted officials of the forest department.
A forest team rushed to the spot and recovered the body, which was later sent for a post-mortem. Preliminary examination by the forest officials suggests that the tribal man may have been killed by either a leopard or a tiger when he ventured into the forest area.
After the attack, the animal had dragged his body for around 200 metres before partially consuming it. The forest department has installed camera traps at the spot where the man's remains were left by the big cat.
"Also, a cage has been kept to capture the animal. The scat remains gathered from the spot have been sent for a forensic examination to determine whether it is a leopard or tiger," said an official.
Angered by the incident, the villagers staged a road blockade at Seventh Mile on the busy Ooty-Gudalur National Highway, disrupting vehicular movement for nearly two hours. Traffic bound for neighbouring states, including Karnataka and Kerala, was affected.
The protesters demanded that the animal responsible for the attack be captured immediately and urged authorities to implement stronger preventive measures to safeguard them from similar attacks. The agitation was withdrawn after forest department officials held talks with the villagers and assured them of appropriate action.
Following the incident, the forest department officials advised residents not to venture into forest areas unnecessarily and to avoid moving alone during night hours.
In a previous incident in March last year, under the Nilgiris forest division, a Toda tribal man was killed in a tiger attack in a forested area at Governor Shola near Ooty.
On February 21, a leopard broke a window pane of a house in Kotagiri to force its way inside and dragged away the household's pet dog.
The incident had triggered panic in the Indira Nagar locality as the carnivore had been prowling the neighbourhood for a few hours before targeting the house of a woman named Lakshmi.