Tiger mauls woman to death

Jaipur : A tiger killed the 50-year-old mother of a guide in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district, police said Friday.

According to the police, the deceased was identified as Marapali Devi. Her body was recovered from Darah area of the park on Friday morning.”She had gone into the forest to collect wood Thursday noon and went missing,” said a police officer.

“Some clothes belonging to the woman had been found Thursday night with tiger pugmarks nearby. It had been assumed that the woman was attacked by tiger but we could not find the body,” the police officer said.

The body was then recovered Friday morning. “The woman has bites on his waist and some other parts of the body. The post-mortem confirmed she was attacked by a tiger,” said the police officer.

Ranthambore National Park is home to about 40 tigers over an area of around 400 sq km. If the adjoining Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary, over 175 km from Jaipur, is taken into consideration, the total area is around 500 sq km.

The park was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1957, and came under the central government’s Project Tiger scheme in 1974. It was designated a national park in 1981.