Tiger attacks kill two in 12 hours in Chandrapur

Chandrapur: Two villagers were killed in separate tiger attacks within a span of 12 hours in Chandrapur district, intensifying concerns over rising human-wildlife conflict in the region.The latest incident occurred on Saturday morning at Amte Farm in Somnath, Mul taluka, where Sunita Shamrao Bhoyar (45), a resident of Maroda village, was attacked while harvesting cotton with other labourers. According to witnesses, a tiger emerged from bushes along the edge of the field and mauled her. Co-workers raised an alarm, forcing the animal to retreat towards the forest, but Bhoyar died on the spot. There was a brief tension at the spot as villagers denied removing her body seeking immediate action, but later the dead body was moved to Mul sub district hospital for postmortem.Less than 12 hours earlier, on Friday evening, Kashinath Shivram Lonbale (60) of Varwat village was killed in the Padmapur beat of Moharli (buffer) forest range. Lonbale had gone to compartment no. 179 near a forest stream to collect firewood when he was attacked by a tiger around 6pm. He too died at the spot.Forest and police teams rushed to both locations soon after receiving information. In the Moharli case, the operation was conducted under the supervision of range forest officer Santosh Thipe and police inspector Sandeep Ekade. The body was sent to the District General Hospital in Chandrapur for postmortem. An immediate relief of Rs50,000 was provided to Lonbale's family, officials said.Camera traps have been installed in vulnerable areas to monitor tiger movement at both the locations of human kills and patrolling has been intensified in the area.With these deaths, six persons have died in predator attacks in the district this year — five in tiger attacks and one in a leopard attack. There were 47 human kills in predator attacks in 2025, including 42 caused by tigers, three by leopards, and one each due to bear and elephant attacks.