Man-eating tiger shot dead in India

A man-eating tiger blamed for killing three people and two cows over the past one week has been shot dead in Ooty in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

District authorities had shut down 45 schools around tea gardens and forest areas of the region after the tiger struck fear in the hills.

Members of the Special Task Force assisted forest officials in the search operations to eliminate the tiger.

The officials planned to trap and capture the tiger using thermal cameras and traps around the area.

Forest personnel denied the animal had “been tranquilised” and confirmed it was shot, reports said on Wednesday.

The initial plan to trap and tranquilise the animal was not carried out. Forest officials told TV crews the tiger “had remained elusive” for over 12 days and had “was bound to repeat the attacks” as reasons for shooting it down.

Since December last year, within a span of five weeks, there have been reports of over 15 people killed across India by tigers.

India has the largest population of tigers with over 60 percent of the world’s tigers living in the country.

Man eater troubles have been following the forest and village peoples in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the last few weeks.