Tigress that killed 3 villagers trapped in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district

NAGPUR: A tigress that killed three villagers over the past two weeks in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district was on Monday captured by a joint team of forest and wildlife officials in Bramhapuri, 200km from Nagpur, people familiar with the matter said.

The adult tigress has been relocated to the wildlife transit centre in Chandrapur. A team of veterinary doctors led by Dr RS Khobragade is administering treatment and closely monitoring the tigress, a government official said.

Officials said the tigress killed a shepherd who was out grazing cattle in Belara jungle of Palasgaon on October 29. The following day, the tigress killed a farmer near Khadsangi and on Nov 1, 2023 60-year-old Savitribai Kamble in the South Forest Range of Bramhapuri Forest Division.

The back-to-back attacks by the tigress led to panic in the region, prompting people to approach the Sudhir Munganttiwar, the forest minister who is also the guardian minister for Chandrapur district.

Munganttiwar asked forest officials to step up efforts to track the tigress. A collaborative team comprising forest, wildlife, and veterinary doctors, was set up and camera traps were deployed in the area to monitor the tigress’s movements.