Wild Animal Attack Led To Woman’s Death In Satkosia: Postmortem Report

Bhubaneswar: The postmortem report of the woman, who was suspected to have been mauled to death by Royal Bengal tigress Sundari at Hatibari village near Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district, revealed that she had died in a wild animal attack.

However, it did not specify whether it was a tigress and any animal of the same species.

Collector (Angul) Anil Kumar Samal said the postmortem report mentioned that the death was due to asphyxia and wounds caused by wild animal bite but it did not specify if a tiger had killed the woman, identified as Kalisahi Soya. If need arises, further clarification will be sought from the doctor concerned, he added.

“The injuries on the body of the deceased woman were antemortem in nature. While some injuries were consistent with destruction by carnivorous animal, some could have been caused by constriction of neck by an agent having multiple pointed hard blunt projections. The death was due to asphyxia as a result of constriction of neck,” the report read.

“We have received the postmortem report. As per the directive of the state government, a cop of DSP rank has been asked to probe the incident and submit a report,” said SP (Angul) Mitrabhanu Mohapatra.

On September 12, the woman was found dead near the forest after she went missing in the morning. The locals claimed that the tigress had strayed into the village the previous night and suspected that it attacked the woman while she was taking bath in a pond near the village early in the morning.

Following the incident, the villagers had demanded for relocation of the tigress from Satkosia. They vented their anger by torching Hatibari Forest Beat House and the Tikarpada Range Office.

It is for the second time that the tigress, which was released into the wild on August 18, strayed into human habitation. On September 3, it had crossed the Chanagodi Nullah to hunt a calf at Bipradiha village under Dhandatopa forest range.

Meanwhile, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) team, which is in Odisha to study the behaviour of Sundari, on Monday maintained that there was no question of shifting the tigress to any other place and she will continue to stay in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

“This is an ambitious mission and project taken up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to increase the number of the royal cats in the country. As this project is finalised, any alteration and change in the decision will be very difficult. We have studied several aspects of this project in details and any problem arising on this issue would be settled in a sustained manner,” WII expert Dr Ramesh told the media.

Talking about the protests from people of the villages in and around Satkosia sanctuary demanding to shift the tigress, he said the state Forest department will seek their cooperation.

Talking about the death of the woman, Ramesh said the public outrage is quite obvious due to the unfortunate incident. “But for such an unexpected and stray incident, shifting of the tigress is not justified. However, adequate steps are being taken to ensure that there will no such incident in the future,” he added.

The team of officials of the WII, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and NTCA from Dehradun, reached Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district on Saturday and begun the monitoring Sundari to study its behaviour the following day.