In a first of its kind incident a tiger tried to attack a sleeping shepherd in the forest near Brahmanpalli village in Kotapally mandal of Mancherial district on Friday.
The 45-year-old shepherd, Kurma Venkati, resident of Brahmanpalli escaped with minor injuries, a couple of cuts on his leg, and was treated at Chennur hospital.
The tiger which was moving in the area perhaps assumed that the sleeping man was an animal. “It apparently tried to pull him by his leg which caused the injury,” Mancherial District Forest Officer Shivani Dogra hazarded a guess.
“This is a random incident and has never happened before. It is the first time that a tiger in these parts has come into conflict with humans in this manner,” the DFO observed.
On the speculation whether the conflict will recur, Ms. Dogra said nothing can be said as of now. She also said the Forest Department is trying to ascertain the identity of the tiger as quite a few of the big cats are moving in the area.
