Ponnampet/H.D. Kote: In separate incidents, tigers have attacked and killed two cows at Bellur village in Ponnampet of Kodagu district and at Antharasanthe village in H.D. Kote taluk recently.

In the first incident, a tiger, which raided a cow shed at Bellur, has killed a pregnant cow on Jan. 1 night. The cow belonged to Mallangada M. Dharmaja of the village and following the incident, fear has gripped the villagers, who are now afraid to come out of their houses after dark.

Though the tiger has not been spotted till now, it raided the cow shed last night, killed the cow and has fled from the spot. The incident came to light when Dharmaja went to the cow shed on Jan. 2 morning and found his pregnant cow killed. There are pug marks around the house of Dharmaja and also in the cow shed.

Forest Department officials inspected the place and have placed a camera trap near Dharmaja’s house. Villagers have urged the Forest officials to trap the tiger at the earliest and provide relief to the villagers.

In the second case, a tiger, which attacked a cow left for grazing, has killed it. The incident took place at Antharasanthe in H.D. Kote and the cow belongs to one Govindaraju of the village, who had purchased the cow for Rs. 54,000 recently.

Govindaraju had tied the cow in an agricultural land behind Mahadeshwara Temple at the village for grazing when the tiger attacked the cow and killed it besides devouring a part of the cow. The incident came to light, when Govindaraju went to the field on Sunday morning and saw the cow killed.

Antharasanthe Wildlife Division Forest officials, who visited the spot, conducted an inspection, found pug marks of the tiger. Antharasanthe Wildlife Division Forest official Siddaraju, speaking to Star of Mysore, said that staff have been deployed where the tiger was spotted and added that camera traps have been installed to track the movement of the tiger. He said that future course of action will be taken based on the guidance from the higher officials besides stating that compensation would be provided to the owner of the cow.

Town Municipal Council Standing Committee President H.C. Narasimhamurthy, Forest staff Antony, Sunil and Kallaiah, NGO representative Dhanush and others were present.