Fear stalks Nuapada villagers as tiger kills calf 

Seven days after an elderly woman was killed allegedly by a Royal Bengal Tiger at Jalamadei village in Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary in Nuapada district, a calf on Monday fell prey to the big cat at Siliribahara village in the same district, triggering panic among the villagers. 

The villagers spotted the carcass of a calf near the village this morning. On being informed, a team from the forest department reached the spot and tried to assuage the panic-stricken people. 

The fear of tiger has been gripping the people of the villages near the sanctuary for a week now. But the forest department officials are allegedly not taking any measures to do away with the tiger fear. 

The officials are reportedly creating awareness among the people. They asked the villagers to keep their cattle in the sheds and not to let them go into the forested areas. So far, three cows and five calves have fallen prey to the predator.

Notably, this is Mahua flower collection season. For the people living near or inside forested areas, it is a common practice to go into the forest in the morning to collect the flowers. For the last one week, they haven’t been able to go into the forest because of the tiger fear.  

Worth mentioning, on March 19 evening, the big cat strayed into the house of the elderly woman, identified as Sanamati Barik of Jalamadei village and dragged her into the forest. On hearing the screams of the villagers, the tiger went into the forest leaving behind the body of Barik. 

The forest department officials then confirmed that the woman was killed by a Royal Bengal Tiger. 

(Reported by Mayadhar Saraf, OTV)