Asifabad: Tiger killings bring back harsh memories to two families

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Attacks on human beings by tigers may come across as a new phenomenon for people living in plains and urban parts. But they were once quite common for the residents of Kondapalli, a remote village in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. The tragedy caused by the carnivore continues to haunt two families. A […]

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Attacks on human beings by tigers may come across as a new phenomenon for people living in plains and urban parts. But they were once quite common for the residents of Kondapalli, a remote village in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. The tragedy caused by the carnivore continues to haunt two families.

A tribal farmer was killed by a tiger and another managed to escape from the jaws of death three decades ago. While Made Chinnaiah succumbed to grievous injuries a tiger inflicted on him when he was cutting bamboo in the forests on the fringes of the village in 1980s, his son-in-law Mekala Venkati could survive by thrashing the carnivore in the 1990s.

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“The death of my father jolted our family. We lost the breadwinner. Our dreams were shattered. We were not extended compensation by the government. My mother, who used to be a daily earner, died of some ailment a few years ago. We have still been struggling to make both ends meet. None should meet such a tragic fate,” Gopal, the younger son of Chinnaiah, told Telangana Today.

Venkati showed bravery and escaped with minor injuries when a big cat attacked him in the wild near the village a few years later the incident. “I was carrying an axe with which I could thwart its attempt to kill me. The terrified carnivore left me, and I could reach the village. I received injuries on my neck and face,” he recounted.

With a population of around 3,000, Kondapalli is surrounded by the forest in all directions except the south. It accounts for nearly 200 families of tribals who depend on forests and eke out a living by weaving baskets and sheets. They, however, bear the brunt as the big cats and sloth bears resort to attacks regularly.

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