Assam villagers kill tiger on suspicion of being man eater: Police

The carcass of a tiger was found on Thursday morning in Assam’s Golaghat district, police said. The tiger is suspected to have been killed by villagers on suspicion of being a man-eater with police searching for the villagers involved in the death of the big cat.

The carcass of the tiger was found at Dumukhia village in Khumtai revenue circle with some body parts missing, which are alleged to have been cut off by the villagers after killing the animal.

“We received information around 8:30am that some villagers in the area were attacking a tiger. A team of forest and police officials rushed to the spot to try and save the animal,” said Gaunadip Das, divisional forest officer (DFO, Golaghat forest division.

“But by the time we reached the spot, villagers had already killed the tiger using traditional machetes, sticks. On seeing the forest and police teams, they fled from the spot,” the officer added.

Forest officials have recovered the carcass of the adult male tiger, which is said to have some parts like nails, nose missing, and have sent it for post-mortem.

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A case has been registered by the forest department and investigation is underway to nab those responsible for killing the endangered animal.

“There are reports that a tiger had killed a villager in the area a fortnight ago. Maybe the villagers were upset with that and when they saw the animal this morning, they attacked it. There’s no certainty that the tiger, which was killed, is the same animal that had killed a villager earlier,” said Das.