A tiger has claimed another life in Deshipura, a village bordering the forest near Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district. Puttamma, a middle-aged woman who had gone to graze her cattle, became the victim of a sudden tiger attack on Thursday evening.

The incident occurred while Puttamma was herding cattle and sheep. The tiger ambushed her, killed her, and then dragged her body a short distance. Villagers were horrified to discover the tiger feeding on her.

Their shouts and screams startled the big cat, causing it to abandon Puttamma’s body and flee the scene.

Local villagers expressed immense anger as no official from the Bandipur Tiger Reserve Forest reportedly arrived at the scene even two to three hours after the incident, despite the tragic event unfolding in a fringe village.

This latest fatality comes just four days after another tiger attack in the region. Previously, an elderly woman named Rangamma was killed by a tiger near Ramayyanapodu in the Biligirirangana Hills (BR Hills) area of Yelandur, a grim memory that had barely faded before Puttamma’s tragic death.

The increasing frequency of tiger attacks in forest-fringe villages is creating a climate of fear among residents. Just recently, on June 10, a man named Ravi was attacked by a tiger when he stepped out of his house to urinate in Ramayyanapodi, also near BR Hills in Chamarajanagar taluk. Ravi sustained injuries and was admitted to Chamarajanagar Government Hospital for treatment.

Villagers in these affected areas have repeatedly appealed to Bandipur CF Prabhakaran to implement protective measures like crunch fences and solar fencing to prevent such human-wildlife conflicts. However, residents are now accusing Prabhakaran of neglecting their pleas, fuelling widespread frustration and fear across the forest-fringe communities.