Tension erupts after tigress Sundari ‘kills’ cow in Angul

Angul: A day after Wildlife Institute of India (WII) researcher cleared that tigress Sundari will stay in Satkosia Tiger Reserve; death of a cow at Lehedi village under Athmallik forest division of Angul district on Monday has once again triggered protests.

Athmallik Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Samyak Samantray informed that it is not yet confirmed that tigress Sundari had attacked the cow. However, the Forest department has given compensation to the owner of the cow, he added.

On the other hand, locals said the tigress killed the cow while it was grazing in the nearby field. The residents of Lehedi suspected that if the cow would have been killed in attack by some other animal, the Forest department would not have granted us the compensation.

Meanwhile, the DFO has confirmed the presence of Sundari in the area and said officials have been deployed to monitor the situation.

Earlier, death of a woman at Hatibari village under Tikarpada Forest Range in Satkosia forest on September 13 led to resentment among the locals, who alleged that tigress Sundari had attacked the woman.

Following the incident, a team of WII had conducted a review on the movement of the tigress and its habitation in Athagarh forest division on Sunday. Another team visited Hatibari village to conduct an on-spot enquiry into the death of the woman.