An Indian woman managed to save herself and her 15-month-old son from the clutches of a tiger by defending herself with her bare hands, a local official in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh said on Wednesday.
Archana Choudhary had just left her home on Sunday night with her 15-month-old baby when a tiger, believed to have strayed from the Bandhavgarh reserve, pounced on them, local official Sanjeev Shrivastava told AFP. .
Punctured lungs and abdominal injuries
The cat attacked them and was about to bite the boy’s head off when the mother intervened at the last moment, he added. The tiger continued to attack them, until the villagers, alerted by the mother’s cries, rushed to his aid. Then the animal fled into the forest.
The mother had punctured lungs and also had injuries to her abdomen. The little boy had his head torn off by the fangs.
“She was admitted to hospital. She is out of danger and recovering. The baby is also doing well,” Sanjeev Shrivastava said.
According to the newspaper Indian Times, an operation was carried out to help the tiger to recover its territory. The villagers were asked not to go out in the middle of the night.
225 people killed in tiger attacks
Human-wildlife conflict is on the rise in South Asia, where more and more forests are receding in the face of urban sprawl.
Nearly 225 people were killed in tiger attacks between 2014 and 2019 in India, according to government figures.
More than 200 tigers were killed by poachers or by electrocution between 2012 and 2018, according to the data. India is home to about 70% of the world’s tiger population, or 2,967 recorded individuals in 2018.
Source: BFM TV
