6 August, 2010
A 32-year old from Dorji Gonpa village in Trongsa was mauled to death by a tiger on August 1.
Forestry officials confirmed the killer as a Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), the only tiger species found in the country, from the depth and size of the wounds the deceased suffered.
The incident happened when the father of three went to look for his ox in the forest near his village which is about 17 km from Trongsa towards Bumthang.
According to Dorji Gonpa tshogpa, Tshagay, the deceased left his home at around 7 am to get the ox to plough the fields. Oxen are left to graze in the forest freely, after villagers complete their paddy cultivation work; and they bring them home whenever necessary.
But when he did not return home even in the evening, family members went to look for him at around 5:30 pm. “They found him dead in the forest in an area about 10 minutes walk from the Trongsa-Bumthang highway at around 10 pm,” Tsagay said.
According to Trongsa district medical officer, Sonam Tshering, who examined the body, the deceased had four punctured wounds on the nape of the neck left by the four fangs of the tiger. “The biggest wound was 2.5 inches deep and 1.1 inches long,” he said.
Three other wounds were 1.8 inches deep and 1 inch long, 1.1 inches deep and 1 inch long and 1.8 inches deep and 1 inch long. “He also suffered from a laceration on the left cheek,” the DMO said.
Dr Sonam Tshering said that the man also suffered from probable cervical spine fracture.
Although no tiger pugmarks were found, forest officials from Jigme Singye National Park and Zhemgang forest division’s range office in Trongsa said the man was killed by a tiger judging from the nature of the wounds.
“We couldn’t find any pug marks, because the forest was covered with leaf moulds and grasses,” a forest official said.
“There was also heavy rainfall that night, which could have washed away all traces of pugmarks in the vicinity.”
The forest official said there was a distance of about 17.2 m between the place of attack and the place where the body was found; this indicated that the man was thrown away by the tiger after it attacked him.
Dorji Gonpa residents told Kuensel that a tigress, with three cubs, attacked cattle in the locality since the first Bhutanese month (February) this year. “In the first Bhutanese month, a villager lost three heads of cattle in a day to the tigress,” said tshogpa Tsagay.
Since then the tigress had been attacking cattle. “It even attacked yaks belonging to the Trongsa dratsang,” the tshogpa said.
Meanwhile, with the recent incidents, villagers are worried that the tiger will attack humans again. “There is a strong belief that tiger will attack humans if they have tasted human blood,” said Tsagay. “We understand the government policies to save tigers, but our lives are also equally important.”
Observers said that, unless the government takes measures to protect humans, they would retaliate and kill tigers. “We’ve lost many cattle, but many incidents weren’t reported because forest officials were concerned that people would then come and kill the tigers for gaming,” said one.
This week’s incident was the first incident of tigers attacking human in more than a decade. Forestry officials said that the last incident happened around 15 years ago, when a man was killed in the Royal Manas national park.
Meanwhile, the victim’s family, forest officials and dzongkhag officials are not sure whether there is any compensation for humans killed by tigers. “We did not receive compensation for our cattle killed by the tiger,” a Dorji Gonpa resident said. “So we don’t know if the family will get compensation or not.”
Tshogpa Tsagay, however, said that the forest officials have told him that they will contact him if there is any compensation.
Courtesy: Tashi Dema
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