Two tigers attacked villagers in separate incidents within three hours in Pilibhit district on Thursday (July 17, 2025), killing one woman and injuring two others. Citing inaction, locals staged a protest in front of the administration, which sought to take custody of the body for a postmortem examination. The villagers claimed that despite numerous instances of man-animal conflict and sightings of tigers,the authorities failed to provide security to humans.
In Bithra Mandaria village, Trishna, 50, was mauled to death by a tiger. Her half-eaten body was recovered from a sugarcane field. Half an hour later, Nilesh, 20, was attacked by the tiger. The injured boy was saved after his friend fought off the tiger with a stick. The tiger injured another local from a neighbouring village who was working on his farmland. Both the injured are receiving treatment at a government hospital. Top district officials, including District Magistrate Gyanendra Singh, visited the affected areas and pacified the locals.
Divisional Forest Officer Bharat Kumar said a trained team has been deployed at the spot following official approval for the tiger’s capture. The District officials directed forest officials to intensify surveillance and deploy expert teams to track the tigers. This is the seventh tiger attack in Pilibhit district since April 2025. On July 15, a farmer was mauled to death by a tigress barely metres away from his hut when he had gone to check his sugarcane crop in Phulhar village near the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR).
The areas near the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, located in Pilibhit district, frequently witness man-animal conflict. The northern edge of the reserve lies along the Indo-Nepal border, while the southern boundary is marked by the river Sharada and Khakra. A study done by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) shows that the Dudhwa-Pilibhit population has high conservation value as it represents the only tiger population with the ecological and behavioral adaptations of the tiger unique to the Tarai region.
Published – July 18, 2025 05:04 am IST
