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"It was one of the rare incidents when a tiger attacked someone inside
the precincts of the main tourist complex at Dhikala," said
Uttaranchal's Chief Wildlife Warden C.K. Chandola.
Chandola told IANS over the phone
while on his way from Corbett to the state capital Dehradun: "It appears
the victim ventured out of his cottage at night for a stroll when he was
attacked by the tigress that was somewhere around with her two grown-up
cubs."
The tigress was known to have got injured in a fight with a wild elephant a
few days ago.
Chandola has directed park officials to keep a close watch on the movement of
the tigress and her cubs.
He said: "There is a strict ban on the movement of people even
inside the Dhikala complex after 9 p.m. But people are often seen stepping out
of the complex boundary; after all there is a forest around."
A warning has been issued to all tourists as well as employees and their
families residing in the park to strictly adhere to rules and regulations.
Stern directives have also been issued for the firm enforcement of restriction
on movement of people at night.
According to park officials, such an attack in Corbett's Dhikala complex last
took place nearly two decades ago.
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The Tiger Cubs grew well and safely from June 2004
till November 2004 , without any disturbance or Human interference. Sighting 5
tigers together is a very rare moment , as only the cubs from a litter of 4
only 1 or 2 survive , these have grown to be full , in good health and the
mother tigress has taken good care of them meaning she is intelligent , strong
and a survivor. Eversince the park reopened on 15th November 2004 , the
sightings on elephant back and jeep safari have been very regular . The
timings of a safari are morning 5.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and evening 4.30 p.m.
to 7.00 p.m. and these very timings are the timings for a tiger to hunt. Very
often the tiger was caught in a hunting mode and her hunts were going waste .
1 tigress hunting and there are 4 full tigers to share , hence she had to work
overtime and feed herself and the family . Lately what she had started doing
was that she used to come inside Dhikala campus to hunt for the deers that
come in the night time under the bulb light to eat grass , she managed to be
successful to at a number of times , but her proximity to humans on either
elephant back or jeep safari , she had got used to them and her fear had
reduced. She was also in the time frame to teach her children cubs to hunt on
their own . But due to regular disturbance by visitors neither she nor her
cubs were living the kind of life they wanted.
on 26th May 2005 at 11.30 p.m. , Mr. Pandey of the KMVN Restaurant had closed
his counter and was walking back to his cabin . The tigress was sitting near a
bush stalking a Sambhar deer . Seeing Mr. Pandey the Deer ran away leaving the
hungry tigress agitated and furious and as soon as Mr. Pandey was opening his
cabin door , she attacked from behind and caught hold of his leg and dragged
him to the jungle edge. The tigress was nervous as well as she had never
killed a human being . She had wounded Mr. Pandey by tearing his leg ,
opening his skull and biting his shoulder . By this time Mr. Pandey realised
what is happening and managed to shout " Help" Help . Hearing his
cry for help , the other people ran to him and saw the tigress sitting on him
like guarding her kill and 50 people with torch lights , car head lights ,
pelting stones and firing in the air ran to her but she like a tigress did not
budge a inch . The stones people threw she handled them like the matrix ,
hitting them with her paws and ducking , snarling and growling all the time .
when they fired near her , then she went back 10 yards and sat there . People
took the opportunity and then Mr. Pandey was rescued and taken to the hospital
50 kms away . The tigress was very furious and till 4.00 a.m kept on searching
for her kill and did not bother about the people there . She has become very
bold and the fear of humans has gone from her.
The tigress has started coming to the campus every second day and a few times
she has been reported to be sighted with her cubs , meaning teach them how to
hunt easy humans . They are yet not planning to hunt her or kill her , but
they are trying to induce fear in her of humans so that she and her four cubs
survive. The park authorities have guards placed on all corners of Dhikala and
as she comes near they fire in the air to scare her away . They are also
putting up dummies of Human beings fitted with electricity shock to give a
jolt but not to kill so that she fears attacking humans .
I just hope and pray that such a fine animal survives the 15 days for closure
of the park and does not attack any other staff member , because then she will
be declared a man eater . And by gods grace , Mr. Pandey is recovering in a
hospital , pray that he also survives the attack and the infections do not
carry the poison for long .
And yes ,on 30th and 31st may 2005 I was in Dhikala Campus and she
did come there too at 8.30 p.m and shots were fired and she did not return but
when we left next morning we could her the calls of the deers informing us
that she is still in the Dhikala Area.....
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