Chandrapur, Maharashtra, Nov 20, : .Officials said that a forest guard was attacked and then killed by a tigress at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) on Saturday morning. Swati Dumane, a female officer, and three of her beat colleagues from Kolara Forest Rang of TATR were conducting a tiger census in the area.This was Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar (TATR Chief Conservator for Forests).
Dumane, her three beat assistants, launched an early sign survey in the All India Tiger Estimation-2022 exercise.It took place at 7:15 a.m.
The team walked around four kilometers from Kolara Gate to compartment No.97 within the TATR core.They were only 200m away when they saw the tiger sitting in front of them.
Ramgaonkar stated that they waited almost 30 minutes for the tigress’s movement, before finally deciding to make a detour through thick forest.
The tigress noticed Dumane’s movements and followed her.She attacked Dumane on the backside as she moved just behind the beat-helpers.
The tigress mauled Dumane and took her deep into the jungle, even as they realized what was going on.
They informed senior citizens outside of the forest, who arrived at the location and were able to locate Dumane’s remains within the jungle.
The body was sent to the Chimur Government Hospital for an autopsy.Ramgaonkar stated that the AITE-2022 sign survey exercise and the transect walking on foot have been stopped in TATR until further notice.”Precautions are being taken to prevent such incidents from happening again,” Ramgaonkar added.
Dumane and her family, including her husband, are being assisted by the Forest Department.A case was also registered, with additional investigations ongoing.
qn/shb/ #Maha #guard #Tigress
.
