Ranthambore Tigress Which Killed 2 People Caught From Behind Local Hotel

A tigress -- suspected to be turning into a man eater -- was caught from inside a hotel in Rajasthan's Ranthambore today. The animal was hiding behind a cottage meant for tourists and was tranquilised. She has now been released in an enclosure located inside the national park.

The two-year-old tigress had strayed out of the Ranthambore National Park last month. 

Around 6 am today, the people of Kutalpura village, located on the Ranthambore road, spotted the tigress in the bajra fields.

The tigress had attacked and killed a forest ranger on Sunday.  In April, it had killed a 7-year-old child.

So the sight of her this morning sent the locals scrambling to their rooftops for safety. Shortly after, they called in the police and the forest department, said Dhan Singh, a resident of Kutalpura village. 

"It is becoming too common now to see tigers straying out of the park," he added.

The tigress was in the fields for about three hours before the Forest Department team arrived . It then moved off and entered a tourist lodge close by called "Machan". It explored the premises and then went to sit by the hotel's swimming pool.

"The tigress was inside the premises so we asked all hotel guests to stay indoors. She was walking around the luxury tents and the swimming pool as well. Then she was sighted behind our personal cottage," said Vishal, a manager of hotel Machan.

It was tranquilised by the Forest Department team that came two hours later.  

Rajendra Mali, the sarpanch of a neighbouring village, said, "The Forest Department is not monitoring tigers they are straying out of the park regularly. They should focus on tigers rather instead of tourism alone".

The tigress is suspected of being a man eater and she has now been released inside an enclosure to keep her out of bounds, said Bharat, an officer at the local police station officer at Kundera. 

"The tigress has been tranquilised but people who are coming to see tigers need to be careful and cautious now," he added. 

Underscoring the need for safety, he said if a tiger wanders out, they must stay indoors and not gather outside hoping for a glimpse of the tiger. 

"We are lucky that today the tigress did not attack anyone. She was aggressive and almost a 100 people had collected to see her. It took us more than two hours to tranquilise the tigress," he added.