Patna: Shooters hired by the Bihar Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department killed a three-year-old man-eater at the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in West Champaran on Saturday.
T 105 had mauled 12 people to death over the past month. The Tiger Conservation Authority on Friday authorised the department’s Principal Secretary, Arwind Kumar Chaudhury, to shoot it.
The tiger had killed two people – a mother and son – on Friday morning when they were out collecting fodder for their animals.
Forest officials who had earlier engaged experts from Jharkhand and Telangana to tranquilise the tiger had failed. On Saturday sharpshooters from neighbouring Nepal were called in.
More than 400 forest and police staff combed the area and four elephants with professional shooters were pressed into service.
After a seven-hour hunt, the tiger was found in Balua range of the reserve. From the elephants, the shooters fired four rounds, killing the man-eater.
The animal had strayed into the neighbouring villages following territorial clashes in the jungle with other tigers.
The reserve has 40 tigers, according to the last census in 2018.
