A tiger from Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) was shot dead by police after it injured 13 people at Lakhanpur VDC-9 in Parsa on Tuesday.

The tiger had entered the settlement from a nearby forest. It was first spotted by local children by a pond. Soon, the villagers gathered, armed with spears, sticks and rocks, to chase the beast. Police personnel from Pokhariya and Mahuban also promptly reached the scene.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakra Raj Joshi said the tiger got agitated when some villagers started throwing rocks while it was hidden among the bushes.

Police Inspector Chakra Bahadur Shah and Assistant Sub-Inspector Arun Kumar Jha, among 13 people, were injured while trying to take the beast under control. 

Shah, Jha and one of villager were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment. The other injured were taken to the Birgunj-based Narayani Sub-Regional Hospital.

According to the 2013 census, there were 198 tigers in the country at the time; seven of them were inside the PWR.

Despite an impressive 63 per cent rise in the country’s tiger population compared to the 2009 census, they remain threatened by humans. Conservationists say poaching is the main threat faced by tigers. In 2016, the Wildlife Crime Unit of Nepal Police had seized 14 tiger skins and six of them were proven to be originated in Nepal.