A TIGRESS, which injured nine people here, was beaten to death allegedly by some villagers in Pilibhit’s Mataina village, officials said.

 

“We got to know about an attack by a tigress in which some people sustained injuries. Later, the people had beaten her to death. We have sent the body for post-mortem. We have also got some videos showing some people attacking the tigress. We are registering an FIR in this case,” District Magistrate Vaibhav Shrivastava said.

 

In the videos, locals were seen beating the tigress with ‘lathis’. 43 people have been named in the FIR. On allegations of negligence by the forest department in the case, Shrivastava said: “The administration was taking strict action from time to time. Cases of man-wild conflict are reported regularly in the areas adjacent to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.”

Nine people sustained injuries on Wednesday evening after the tigress attacked the people working in the fields. After the incident, the tigress was cordoned off by the villagers and later beaten to death.

 

“Tigress attacked a man on Wednesday when he came to the field. Later, some people tried to escape from the spot when tigress attacked them,” Naveen Khandelwal, Divisional Forest Officer, Pilibhit said.

 

Chief Forest Guard, Bareilly, Lalit Kumar said that tigress was 6-years-old and had sustained serious injuries on mouth, legs and back. An investigation in the case is underway.