IWN Daily Digest — Tuesday, 25 August 2026
A tiger has killed a second person within a fortnight near Gudalur, in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, and the state forest department has put three thermal drones, six cages and around fifty camera traps into the search for it.
The latest victim was Ravichandran, 56, killed on Friday evening in the Lauresten locality of the Gudalur forest division, in the western Nilgiris. A farm hand died in a tiger attack in the same area roughly two weeks earlier. Forest officials believe one animal, now described as a man-eater, is responsible for both deaths.
Residents confronted forest staff after the second killing, and some local organisations have called for a 48-hour bandh from Thursday in protest at the department’s response. The Gudalur Forest Officer, Devaraj, asked residents on Sunday to avoid venturing out late at night or in the early morning until the tiger is caught.
More than eighty forest personnel, split into two specialised teams, are now running continuous monitoring and combing operations through the forest-fringe areas the tiger has been moving through. As of Monday, the animal remained elusive.
Odisha’s fences
In Odisha, a female elephant aged around 15 to 20 years was found dead in a paddy field at Simantapur village, under the Sadangi Range of the Dhenkanal Forest Division, on Monday. Forest officials said a preliminary investigation points to electrocution, after the animal came into contact with a solar fence that had been illegally wired into the local household electricity supply.
A 25-year-old Simantapur resident, Mana Goya, has been detained in connection with the incident, and the investigation is continuing. Three veterinary doctors carried out the post-mortem, while a joint team — the regional chief conservator of forests for Angul, the Dhenkanal divisional forest officer, an executive engineer from Tata Power, an electrical inspector and the joint task force — examined the site and the fencing.
“The prima facie finding is electrocution as the cause of death,” a senior forest department official said. “The final findings will be based on the post-mortem report and the outcome of the ongoing investigation.” Legal action will follow against anyone found responsible.
Sources: Deccan Chronicle · PTI
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