Chandrapur: A 25-year-old cattle herder was allegedly killed in a tiger attack in the buffer zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve on Saturday afternoon.The incident occurred around 1pm in Compartment 154 of Moharli-1 beat under Moharli buffer forest range. Vijay Madhukar Meshram, a resident of Junona, was taking cattle for grazing when the tiger attacked him. He was accompanied by two other cattle grazers, who alerted the forest officials and villagers about the attack.Forest and police teams soon reached the spot. Range forest officer Santosh Thipe and police inspector Santosh Shegaonkar, along with their teams, conducted a panchnama in the presence of wildlife warden Mukesh Bhandakkar. Meshram’s body was later sent to the rural hospital in Bhadrawati for postmortem.Forest officials handed over an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 to Meshram’s mother, Niranjana. Camera traps have been installed in the area, while forest officials are conducting awareness drives in Junona and advising villagers to exercise caution.With the death, 29 people have been killed in wildlife attacks in Chandrapur district this year. Of these, 27 died in tiger attacks and one each in elephant and leopard attacks.In 2025, wildlife attacks claimed 47 lives in the district, including 42 in tiger attacks, three in leopard attacks and one each in bear and elephant attacks.
