From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Two persons were killed in separate attacks by Royal Bengal Tigers (RBTs) inside Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Saturday morning, according to information provided by Park officials.
One of the victim died on the spot while another died on way to hospital in neighbouring Jorhat town. Another 17-year-old boy was also seriously injured in one of the tiger attacks.
A 65-year-old man Jawaharlal Karmakar was killed on the spot when a tiger pounced upon him and broke his spinal cord while one Ganesh Orang (17) was seriously injured by the same animal inside the national park at Haldibari under Kohora Range at around 10-45 AM on Saturday. Ganesh was later rushed to Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH) in a serious condition. He suffered grave injury at his back and buttocks.
Forest officials informed that a group of trespassers sneaked into the park to collect firewood which is an illegal practice. The group got divided into smaller groups once inside the Park near Haldibari. Jawaharlal and Ganesh were together when they were confronted by a charging RBT which killed the former on the spot and clawed Ganesh on his back causing serious injuries.
In another incident of tiger attack around the same time 70-year-old Krishna Ram Gogoi was grievously injured in an attack by another RBT at a fringe area of the Pak near Kohora Range. The old man was trying to prevent his herd of buffaloes from entering into the core area of the Park by crossing a stream called Difaloo when the tiger pounced upon him.
Seriously injured Gogoi immediately rushed to Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH) about 80 kilometers away after being administered preliminary medical aid at nearby Bokakhat civil hospital in a nearby hospital. However, the old man died on way to the hospital.
The sprawling Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is the main hub of endangered Royal Bengal Tiger in the region and has witnessed steady rise in tiger population of late a pr finding of an infra-red camera trap study carried out by the state forest department in collaboration with an NGO, Aaranyak.
Assam represents about 15% of India’s total tiger population with estimated 100 tigers in its forest areas, mostly in the Kaziranga Landscape. The sprawling Kaziranga National Park (KNP) which is more famous for its treasure trove of one-horned Asian rhinoceros, located in the flood plains of Brahmaputra River is an important tiger habitat in the country. The tiger population there is considered a healthy source population. The India Tiger Estimate 2010 has recorded considerable increase in tiger population in Assam plains, basically in Kaziranga area.
In fact, the big cat population in the State has touched an impressive 143, a record increase of 73 tigers. Assam in 2006 recorded a population of 70 tigers but in 2010 its population has grown to 143. The estimates are part of the detailed report on the All India Tiger Estimation-2010 released by Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan on July 28 this year.
According to wildlife experts , one of the reasons for the KNP being an important tiger is – tigers love to have wide roaming areas and the tigers of the park could move away to nearby protected area the like the forest areas in Karbi Anglong Hills, the Laokhowa and Buhrachapori Wildlife Sanctuaries and possibly to Orang National Park. However, such migration without encountering human settlement is nearly impossible as the forests are fragmented due to settlements and encroachments.