Tiger kills 71-year-old woman in Khatima

Gopuli Devi, a native of Pithoragarh and wife of late Durga Singh, had gone into the forest with other women to graze cattle when the tiger, believed to be lying in ambush, attacked her and dragged her around 30 metres into dense undergrowth.The accompanying women raised an alarm and alerted villagers, who reached the spot along with a forest department team. Officials fired four rounds in the air, forcing the tiger to retreat and abandon the body.The body was later found and handed over to the family after a post-mortem.Forest range officer Rajendra Singh Manral said the attack occurred in compartment number 47 of the Surai range. “The tiger targeted the neck. Saliva and hair samples have been collected and will be sent to a laboratory in Dehradun for analysis,” he said.The incident has heightened concerns over safety in forest-fringe areas, where human-wildlife conflict has increasingly turned fatal. Official records show that at least 15 people have been killed in tiger attacks in the Khatima region over the past four years.Residents of Bagga Chauvan and nearby villages continue to live in fear amid recurring encounters. Gopuli Devi is survived by a son and two daughters.