A wild tiger has killed three people in southern India this month, forcing dozens of schools and a tourist resort in the area to shut down, an official said.
The tiger killed a woman working on a tea plantation in the state of Tamil Nadu last week, the animal's third victim since January 4, district forest officer Thiru Sugirtharaj Koil Pillai said on Tuesday.
The attacks come after searches last week at the other end of the country, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, for another tiger believed to have killed four people this month.
After the latest incident, the Tamil Nadu government closed 45 schools in Nilgiris district and a resort on Doddabetta hill, a popular spot for holidaymakers, in case of more attacks, the official said.
Some 150 forest officials and police, aided by elephants and sniffer dogs, have stepped up a search for the tiger, setting up motion-detection cameras and cages with meat to track and trap the animal.
"The tiger has been prowling around the tea garden, making it difficult to spot him," Pillai told AFP.
"It was only after the third killing, when a camera trap caught footage of the animal, that we knew for sure it was a tiger behind these deaths."
Conservationists blame towns and villages that are encroaching on tigers' natural habitats for the occasional deadly incidents. But the official was at a loss to explain the latest attacks.
"There have always been tigers around this area, but they have never harmed humans before," Pillai said.
India is home to about 1700 tigers - half of the world's rapidly shrinking wild tiger population - but has been struggling to halt the big cat's decline in the face of poachers, international smuggling networks and loss of habitat.
Share
