A wild buffalo was shot dead by security personnel after it killed two people and injured two others in Biswanath district of Assam bordering Arunachal Pradesh, officials said on January 15.
The buffalo killed a man in Biswanath district on January 14, while another man was mauled to death by the animal on January 15, besides injuring two other people in the same area.
According to the forest and police officials, the wild buffalo from the famed Kaziranga National Park attacked and killed 55-year-old Sukur Ali, a villager, and injured two others on January 15 at Muttackgaon area in the district.
A forest official said that personnel of the forest department and police rushed to the village on receiving information that one more person succumbed to his injuries suffered in the wild buffalo’s attack.
“At the outset we tried to push the wild buffalo into the Kaziranga National Park as our first priority is always to protect the wild animals. But it chased us back and we had no option but to shoot it in self-defence,” a forest official told the media.
The two injured persons were later shifted to a hospital.
The wild buffalo on January 14 killed 43-year-old Jayanta Das, leading to public anger in Biswanath district of Assam.
Hundreds of irate people burnt down the Central Range office of the Biswanath Wildlife Division and a car of the forest department on January 14.
Accusing the forest officials of not taking adequate steps to prevent wild animals from entering human habitations and villages from the nearby Kaziranga National Park, hundreds of locals, including women, turned violent and went on a rampage.
The villagers have demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the victims’ families. The police and forest officials had a tough time in pacifying the angry mob.
For such animal attacks, forest officials and environment experts blamed traditional community fishing, organised every year as a part of the celebration of “Bhogali Bihu”, a harvest festival, also called “Magh Bihu”.
Defying prohibitory orders clamped under Section 144 of the CrPc, around 3,000 people had entered inside a part of the Kaziranga National Park for community fishing.
The forest official said that as people unlawfully entered the restricted areas of the park, the wild animals moved from the southern side to the northern side and some animals even crossed the Brahmaputra and entered the north bank area (Biswanath).
According to the official when a huge number of people enter protected areas of the sanctuary, it is expected that the animals would move here and there for their survival.
