Mahout Ramesh Chaudhary of Hattisar was killed by a tiger on April 16 in the Kasara area of Chitwan National Park. Two days later, Narayan Dahal, a local man, died in another tiger attack at Kumroj Bufferzone Community Forest in East Chitwan.

A rising number of tiger attacks has been reported in the district this year, authorities say

“There have been four incidents of tiger attacks in the community forest alone. All of the attacks occurred while the locals were in the forest cutting grass and collecting fodder,” said Ganesh Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of the Kumroj Buffer Zone Community Forest. “Three of the victims died while several others were injured. Rs 854,000 has been spent on the treatment of the injured only. The increasing incidents of tiger attacks are becoming a matter of concern.”

According to Assistant Conservation Officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, who is also the information officer of Chitwan National Park, 22 people have been killed by various wild animals from mid-April, 2021 till now. Twelve of them were attacked and killed by tigers. On July 21, 2021, a tiger attacked and killed a local woman who had gone to cut grass in the Janakauli Bufferzone Forest.

“After that, six people were killed in tiger attacks from mid-February to mid-March. The situation had never been this concerning in the history of the national park. Although there were attacks on people three years ago, nobody was killed. It all started two years ago and four people have been killed since then,” said Tiwari.

“Until three years ago, there used to be four or five tiger attacks and one or two casualties a year but the current situation is scary,” said Baburam Lamichhane, head of the National Nature Conservation Fund’s Sauraha office, who has done extensive studies on tigers and the damage they cause to human settlements.

No incidents of tiger attacks have been reported outside the forest.

Tiwari, the park’s information officer, claims that there has not been a single incident of tiger attacks in the villages. Most of the incidents this year have taken place in the forest.

“Tiger population inside the forest is increasing and the forest area is not big enough to host tigers in large numbers,” said Lamichhane. “I think the tigers come out of their habitat to the outer reaches of the forest in search of prey and even new territory. That’s when the attacks happen.”

“The office has identified certain areas in the forest where locals can go to collect firewood and fodder during stipulated hours. But sometimes people wander off too deep into the forest, leading to human-wildlife encounters,” said Shrestha.

The number of tourists visiting Kumroj Forest has increased of late. They come in droves hoping to see tigers, which has led to a boost in tourism in the area.

“But tigers have become a danger to the human population. It is becoming hard to protect the locals from tiger attacks,” said Shrestha.

Chitwan National Park is the main habitat of tigers in Nepal. According to the tiger survey conducted in 2018, there were 235 tigers in Nepal and 93 in Chitwan.