Gundlupet: A tribal woman, who was tending to a flock of sheep at a field bordering Bandipur Tiger Reserve, was mauled to death by a tiger yesterday.

The deceased is Puttamma (44), a resident of Deshipura Colony. She had lost her husband recently and was living with her two children Sharath and Abbayi.

Yesterday afternoon, Puttamma was looking after her flock which were grazing in the field bordering Omkar Range in Bandipur, when the tiger pounced on her and dragged her to a distance. Hearing her screams, farmers, who were working in nearby fields rushed to her help and began to scream and make loud noises. But the tiger, which did not leave Puttamma, dragged her towards the forest and devoured her neck and stomach.

Tahsildar T. Ramesh Babu, Omkar Range Forest Officer (RFO) N Satish Kumar, Dy.SP Lakshmaiah, Begur Circle Inspector Vanaraju, Sub-Inspector Chanran Gowda and others visited the spot and based on the blood marks, traced the body of Puttamma in the bushes.

Angered over the tiger killing the woman, residents of neighbouring villages, members of various farmer associations, protested demanding shooting down the tiger, Rs. 25 lakh compensation to the victim’s family and a permanent job in the Forest Department to the children of Puttamma.

Bandipur Project Tiger Director S. Prabhakaran, who came to the spot, gave a cheque for Rs. 10 lakh as per the Government rule and announced to provide temporary jobs to Puttamma’s children following which, the protest was called off.

The body was shifted to Begur Community Hospital, where post-mortem was conducted and the body was handed over to the family members.

Prabhakaran said that as there are chances of the tiger attacking again, a cage will be placed to trap the tiger and camera traps will be installed to know the tiger’s movements.

He further said that trained elephants will be brought and combing operation will be conducted.